“Happy Quitter’s Day!”
January 19, 2021
Today I received a badge for reading with my Kindle app on January 19, “Quitter’s Day”, the day most people quit their New Year’s resolutions. Since I was unaware such a badge existed, I was not striving to attain it. Actually, I have read on my Kindle app every day since February 20, 2019 to January 19, 2021 which means I have not missed a day of reading for 1.92 years, or 700 consecutive days! But KINDLE did not reward those days of reading, but rather that I read on Quitter’s Day! Shouldn’t there be a badge for 700 days of consecutive reading?
Regardless, I am intrigued by Quitter’s Day and the fate of most resolutions. The most common resolutions for US adults in 2021 included exercising more, losing weight, saving more money, improving diet, pursuing a career ambition, and reading more. Since I have long ago resolved to NOT make resolutions each year, you will not find me on a treadmill, holding a book in one hand, and a carrot stick in the other! But why is there lack of success for those who do resolve?
Apparently, resolutions die, if not on January 19, then by the second week of February, for many reasons. Psychologists suggest that while getting fit, losing weight, and improving our life styles are noble goals, they die out because they may be too vague, too ambitious, or not something the person truly wanted. Furthermore, resolutions fail because resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no power unless a proper internal motivation exists. So how can anyone be successful in seeing their resolutions through to the end of 2021?
Perhaps resolutions would prevail if they involved committing to something that is clear, realistic, and truly motivating. In Hebrew, “commit” means “to roll”, and is found in Proverbs 16: 3–
“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.”
The idea of “rolling” is to completely give something over to God in total dependence upon Him. When we completely depend upon God, in our work and in our plans, God will establish or “bring about” our plans and “cause (them) to happen”!
When we roll our plans onto the LORD, and align them with His will, we do not have to worry about “Quitter’s Day” or exchanging our New Year’s resolutions for a box of chocolates by day’s end or a few weeks from now!
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”
(Psalm 37:5)