The unrealistic spiritual resolutions

Ibrahim Balunywa says earlier this year, he decided to learn the verses in the Quran.

“I set out some verses, I was to learn one in the month which I thought realistic but I have not been able to do it, ”Balunywa says.

He says he struggles with Arabic and yet, it is vital if he has to learn the verses. “The more realistic thing will be getting a teacher that can help me learn,” Ibrahim adds.

So, why did he seat a resolution so hard to achieve?

Balunywa says he wanted to increase on his knowledge of the Quran by reciting and learning its interpretation .

“The interpretation will be the most valuable thing because it makes sense to me,” he adds.

Anthony Rucukye says that it is important that anyone who is a believer looks at spiritual resolutions.

 “I do not set specific spiritual resolutions but I believe that as time goes I have spiritual targets,”He adds.

Rucukye says that in his spiritual life, he aims to be a better human than he was at the beginning of the year.

“I am a catholic, and the specific spiritual resolutions I can set every month can be going to the Priest for confession and show my commitment to have a better life,”Rucukye says.

He says one’s relationship with God should be self-evaluated to see if the relationship has a genuine love of God not only the fear of going to hell.

“Many of us are Christians because there is an idea of hell that is terrible, harsh, filled with fire for eternity, people are Christians out of fear,”Anthony says.

He says Christians are followers of God because of fear and not because they want to have an authentic connection with their creator.

 When asked how one can be closer to God in the New Year, Rucukye says that spending more time in prayer is important. He says that depending on the number of times one prays in a day he or she can increase.

“If a person prays only in the mornings, he or she would need to start praying at night and if the person is a catholic, he or she can start attending mass at church”Rucukye advises.

Rucukye says that the spiritual resolutions need to be realistic. He explains that they can be made if one is prepared to work on it.

“If I am not ready to work towards the resolution, it is useless for me to make it as a goal because I would be making God a magician,” he says.

“I am basically saying, I want to go to Rome next year and I need 15m shillings in a year which I do not make,”Anthony notes.

 “In doing that, I am believing God is a magician and he can turn the money I have into 15million,”He adds.

Antony says that such a resolution is unrealistic and the Christian that has such a resolution is not a genuine believer of God. He says that resolutions should not only be in one’s comfort zone.

“It is possible that a resolution that is achievable may not push me to work harder to attain what one wants,”Rucukye adds.

Solomon Kifunye the Youth Pastor at Christian Discipleship Ministries International says it is better to have few New Year spiritual Resolutions so that it is easier to work on them.

“When one sets 12 resolutions, it is difficult to work on all of them and it is easy to forget,”Kifunye says.

Kifunye says he believes planning is the highest expression of faith in God.

“When you plan to achieve something, you are showing God you believe in him to achieve what you set out to do,”Solomon adds.

Solomon explains that by setting the resolutions we believe that God can answer them if they are according to his will.

“The resolutions are unrealistic because they are related to our will, and he answers in support of his will,”he adds.

Solomon says some years ago he hoped he would finish CPA but because of his work schedule and other things he was not able to finish it.

When Solomon was asked how resolutions become unrealistic, he says people set them out but never work towards them.

Basena Fahad says that some years ago when the New Year was approaching, he planned to pray five times a day every four days, and the days he did not manage to pray all the times, he would manage to say some prayers.

Basena says that some resolutions are not unrealistic but hard to attain.

“There was a year when I planned to travel to Mecca, instead of going on a holiday but that was not possible,”he says.

Fahad recalls that he wanted to learn how to say a complete prayer to Allah. He explains that a prayer in Islam needs to be in Arabic and not any other language.

“There is a year I promised myself that I would learn the verses and the interpretation, so that I can perform a full prayer and understand what I am saying,”Basena adds.

He says he wanted to do something different, have a better connection with Allah and a deep understanding of his Religion.

Lillian Ayella says that the times she believes that the resolutions are unrealistic; the Holy Spirit leads and directs her.

She says when she sets her resolutions, she has found grace and favor from God to accomplish what she has to accomplish.

“I have learnt that God is concerned about what concerns me,”Ayella adds.

“As a Christian, I realize the need to grow spiritually and not just physically, I believe God created me for a reason and a purpose,”she says.

Reverend Byron Tukamukunga says that anyone who makes a new year’s spiritual resolution without God’s guidance makes a resolution that is unrealistic.

“A person that says his resolution is to bring healing to 50 people, how sure will he be that God will work according to his resolution,” Tulamukunga says.

He says unrealistic New Year spiritual resolutions are conditional, because some people can say that if God does this for me, I will do this for him next year.

“Conditional resolutions are unrealistic,” he adds.

  Byron advises that unrealistic spiritual resolutions can be avoided by accepting setbacks.

“It is often inside the setbacks that the beautiful transformative things reside,” he adds.

He observes that getting realistic new year spiritual resolutions should be embraced.

“Do not get overwhelmed, avoid pushing yourself too far,” he adds.

Byron says one should pray to God for directions and guidance.

Bible

Although the Bible says nothing about making New Year’s resolutions, it does give us wise advice about making our lists. In 1740, the Englishman who founded the Methodist movement, John Wesley (along with his brother Charles), began a New Year’s Eve service at the church called the Covenant Renewal Service.

He developed this service, which included Scripture readings, singing of hymns, prayers and seeking scriptural promises, for the new year.

This became a spiritual alternative to rabble-rousing and wild parties on New Year’s Eve. It was also called Watch Night. Although the service was held on the eve of the new year, it can also be held on New Year’s Day. There are some churches that continue this tradition today.