Happy New Year!! I know, you’re already tired of hearing that. As you read this we are already a few days into 2015. You’ve probably already written “2014” on enough checks and papers that you are now used to getting the year right. As we start this new year, here are a few quotes and some, um, commentary from yours truly…

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” [Bill Vaughan]

I guess that means that “old age” is when you actually get to go to bed whenever you want, whether it’s New Year’s Eve or any other day. Hmmm. Sounds pretty good actually…

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man-made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.” [G.K. Chesterton]

When I first read this, I thought, “Wow, sounds like something on a plaque in a Plastic Surgeon’s office.” But it certainly is true, isn’t it? It is important to make resolutions sometime, because “resolving” to do better, to change for the good, that’s all really good, right? So whether they are New Year’s resolutions, or resolutions that come at any other time, resolving to do good and to live a better life is always timely.

And that leads to these words from the familiar hymn, “I Am Resolved” by Palmer Hartsough.

I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler, These have allured my sight.

I am resolved to go to the Savior, Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true One, He is the just One, He hath the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior, Faithful and true each day;
Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth, He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom, Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me, Still will I enter in.

I am resolved, and who will go with me? Come, friends, without delay;
Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit, We’ll walk the heav’nly way.

I will hasten to Him, Hasten so glad and free; Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

And so this one last quote, reminding us of the opportunity that comes with each new year, each new day.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” [Edith Lovejoy Pierce]