By Steve Matthews
Senior FaithX Missional Consultant
Tomorrow, January 10, 2025 is “Quitter’s Day.” It’s not the day when people quit smoking, or drinking, or gambling, or over-eating, or any other number of vices. On the contrary it’s the day when, according to some statistics, most people “quit” their New Year’s resolutions. Whether these resolutions were too lofty, or we were too undisciplined, or maybe life just got in the way, sometimes we just can’t live into our best intentions – we quit.
I grew up hearing that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Subtext: If you don’t succeed at what you set out to do, you have failed – period. “Shame on you.”
Well, if you have already abandoned or faltered on your New Year’s resolutions, brush yourself off and playfully consider this: What if the way to heaven is paved with our good intentions? A wise and heart-felt intention is a valuable internal compass point. A wise coach once told me to hold to these four movements in any new beginning:
- Intention – Name the goal, or value, or trajectory that matters to you.
- Attention – Keep the intention in the forefront of your actions and psyche.
- Repetition – Honor and repeat the practices that support this intention.
- Guidance – Seek one or two wise and supportive people to support you along the way.
I like this approach and find it a valuable resource as I navigate around the shame of failure and reset my eyes and heart and energy on the intention that matters most to me. Perhaps, for me, a valuable new year’s resolution is not about succeeding on any one individual goal but more about resilience. Consider this quote by Nelson Mandela.
“Do not judge me by my success,
judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
Our mission at FaithX is to help congregations and communities survive and thrive in turbulent times. There is nothing in this mission that suggests a fail-safe path toward success. Instead, we seek to help congregations dream of daring new beginnings and faithful intentions that nurture new life. We provide the resources to help aid this discernment. Finally, we accompany communities as they succeed, as they fail, and as they get back up again ready to recommit to an intention that truly matters.
Our FaithX team (Mary Frances, Ken Howard, and I) must often practice resilience ourselves. Our business model and goals often shift in order to stay true to our mission. Sometimes we walk, sometimes we sprint, and sometimes we fall. Even so, we want to model resilience for all those we serve, so we help each other up, dust ourselves off and recommit to the intentions that matter most to us.
We are excited about some of our new beginnings this year. Stay tuned to learn more about the ways we might accompany you in your new opportunities- in your inspired intentions. Together, let’s practice resilience and begin again!
