By Ashlie Miller
We live in a time where every day on the calendar seems to be a “National ________ Day.” Many restaurants capitalize on the idea to sell more products: “Come get your deal on donuts on National Donut Day!” It should come as no surprise that there is a “National Quitters’ Day.” In case you missed it, you may have inadvertently celebrated it anyway. This year, it was Friday, Jan. 9, and it marked the time when many people have already given up on their New Year’s resolution. To be fair, it does feel like we are already in spring, so maybe you feel like you are doing a better job keeping resolutions than you actually are.
According to Strava, a fitness app that tracks data of its users, a huge majority of people slow or halt their fitness goals by the second Friday of January. Motivation has gone out the window with the empty Krispy Kreme box.
While teaching my children science lessons recently, we were discussing the First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) — energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another. The amount of energy is just there existing. We cannot get more out of it than what exists.
Unfortunately, this is true of motivation, as well. If we go into a plan or goal with a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm, it eventually runs out if we aren’t adding to it. That leads to exhaustion and eventually collapse (evidently in most cases by the second Friday of January).
What can sustain us? How do we continue doing what we should and quit the things that aren’t good for us?
Well, first, we can consider the difference between giving up on something because we are tired and turning away from things because we are being transformed. Transformation comes from repentance. Humans have never been great at self-help. It is an always-striving sort of position. We are miserable at transforming ourselves, because we only have so much energy. But our Creator is above and beyond us. He knows what makes us tick and what wears us down. He knows that the weight of sin is often the ball and chain that is keeping us burdened and incapable of saying “no” to things that ruin us. Repentance offers hope that the change we need is in the hands of someone better, working things for our good. The Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside out, but there is more!
Secondly, we can rejoice that God promises Christians new, daily mercy. We are going to fail because we live in a fallen world. As we make efforts to change and submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit, new mercies await us daily (see Lamentations 3:22-23). While we are instantly justified from an old man to a new man, the sanctifying transformation is a continuing journey of mercy and grace. When our willpower pops but then fizzles, mercy covers our faults, and grace brings us where we need to be but haven’t earned. Our grit is gone, but grace remains.
So, whether you choose freshly squeezed juice or strawberry ice cream (both share a national day) on Jan. 15, and you get to the gym or binge on the couch, for the Christian, our hope remains in the perfect plan of God, the completed work of Christ, and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit all meeting us with new mercies each day.
Ashlie Miller resides in Concord. You may email her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.
