Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? I did. I do every year. I decided on this year’s resolution a few days before Christmas, so in a sense, I’ve had the chance to test-drive it here and there.

I don’t know if, how, or why you decided on yours, but two things in particular modeled for mine. The first was Saint Paul’s encouraging words, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). The second was Michigan’s dismal climate. We don’t get much sun from October to March, and so I’m perpetually watching for stray sunbeams piercing the dreary grays. If I’m paying close enough attention, I can usually spot two or three throughout the day. Like atmospheric phantoms, they come and go. On occasion, one descends through a nearby window. When it does, I’ll sit right in the middle of it. It’s a rejuvenating opportunity, even if only for a moment. 

Together, these two things stirred a New Year’s resolution to find at least three positives in any perceived negative situation and, from among those three, if possible, to discover at least one opportunity for making life better. It might sound like a complicated resolution compared to exercising or cutting back on sweets. All I can say is that as I get older, I want to continue being the kind of person who’s happier to see the New Year arrive than to see the current year leave. To do this, I know I need to bring something with me into the New Year, and it can’t be the old self. The old self gets tired. The new self in Christ brings hope, patience, and prayer.

One thing is for sure: my newest resolution was pressure tested days before the clock struck midnight on December 31st.

I woke up this past Wednesday with a whole day of nothing facing me. That’s right. I had nothing to do but rest. The only task owed to the day was to take the artificial palm tree Jennifer bought me for Christmas to my office at the church. I planned to set it just beyond my desk where I could see it daily.

But my restful do-nothing day was foiled.

I started the day plinking away at what would become the sermon for this morning’s Divine Service. I did this awaiting my turn in the shower. Once Jennifer was done, and because I was still typing, she cleaned the bathtub, filling it with hot water before giving it a good scrub. Afterward, it was my turn in the bathroom.

My shower was ice cold.

I thought at first that Jennifer had used up the hot water while cleaning the tub or that perhaps one of the kids was actually awake and had showered, too. Strangely, the urge to visit our water heater in the basement storage closet emerged. And so, I did. Sure enough, it was dead, and its contents were just beginning to leak out onto the floor. I shut off the water supply, and while Jennifer began moving our closet belongings to other locations, I called a local heating and cooling company that we trusted. I learned they could be out by 4:30 p.m. for an estimate but likely couldn’t perform the installation until two or three days later. Still, I scheduled the appointment and then went to work helping Jennifer.

Once done, we sat together in the living room, calculating our fate. We were looking at a post-Christmas expense of about $2,000 and a couple of days of traveling back and forth to Jennifer’s mom’s house for showers.

Sigh.

“How many gallons is our water heater?” Jennifer asked, tapping on her mobile phone.

“Fifty,” I replied.

“How tall is it?”

“Right around fifty-five inches.”

“How wide?”

“About twenty inches.”

“You know, Home Depot has two in stock. They’re a little shorter and wider, but we could get one today. If we buy it and you do the installation, we could save about a thousand dollars.”

A moment passed.

“I’ll get my coat. Call upstairs to Harrison. He’s going with me.”

Harrison and I spent the next few hours removing the old water heater and installing a new one. We were done by 4:30 p.m. Had we kept the appointment, the repair man would’ve been arriving just in time to congratulate us.

What does this story have to do with my New Year’s resolution? For starters, everything about the situation was deflating. Not to mention I didn’t want to spend the entirety of what would be one of my only free days in a year doing what I was about to do. However, I’d already chosen my New Year’s resolution, and as such, I was ready to steer into the effort with hope, patience, and prayer, all the while looking for the moment’s sunbeams. And I found plenty.

The first ray of sunlight was that I actually had an entirely uninterrupted day to do the job. Second, we discovered the problem before it could cause significant damage to our basement. Third, we couldn’t necessarily afford $2,000, but we could afford $1,000. Fourth, a relatively warm day for the end of December, Wednesday was near-perfect for doing the work. The outdoor tasks would’ve been a messy struggle if it had been cold and snowy. I can only imagine having to uncoil and drag a frozen hose inside to drain the water heater; or attempting to dolly the rusted beast out through the basement door, likely struggling to ascend the side yard’s treacherously icy slope to get the appliance to the street, and then do the same in reverse with the new water heater, surely tracking the outside’s elements indoors.

As you can see, at least four sunbeams were streaming through a relatively cloudy scenario. I had resolved to find only three.

But what about the opportunity for rejuvenation? Well, that’s an easy one, too. Harrison and I worked on the job together, spending much-needed father-and-son time accomplishing something beneficial to the family.

In short, it was a struggle, but with my sights set in the right direction, it was a good day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that every day can be the best day of the year. As a Christian, I agree. A Christian’s “every day” has Christ. With Christ, there’s always hope, no matter the challenge. Even better, we have access through prayer to the Creator of the cosmos, the One who promises to listen and respond, ultimately ordering all things, good or bad, for the salvific benefit of those who are His own by faith (Romans 8:28).

I already know these things. Still, I intend to be deliberate in my awareness of them in the New Year. I will find these sunbeams in a world intent on shrouding faith’s joy.

Having said all this, if you are yet to make a New Year’s resolution, feel free to steal mine…or the one I mentioned in yesterday’s note. Either way, trust me when I say that the New Year has only just begun, yet the peace that comes with a heart settled in this way is sure to pay dividends all along the way.

God bless and keep you by His grace!