Unresolved

Happy New Year!

I have never been a believer in New Year's Resolutions. It has never made much sense to me that if you know you need to make a change in your life, or try harder at something, or change your attitude, you wouldn't just go ahead and do that on say, April 10th, or whenever it came to your mind. The whole idea smells of procrastination.

I'm sure that's because of my nun training. Not just my training as a nun, but my training by nuns as a child.


Any time you didn't do something that you thought you should maybe do, that meant you were lazy. If you hesitated for a second before rising, if you didn't leap to your feet when called upon for any reason, "Lazy!" If you saw something that needed doing, like a full trash can or a sink full of dishes and walked on by, "Lazy!" Sleeping in? "Lazybones!"

St. Augustine seemed to think the very worst sin was dishonesty in any form.
Sister Mary Everynun would argue, "Sloth!"

I have finally learned, from people I used to think of as germaphobes, that I actually should go lie down if I'm sick, if for no other reason, so I don't spread my illness around. But as children, if we didn't have an actual fever, we had to be up and at it, sneezing and coughing on everyone else while trying not to do so. It's a wonder we're all still here.


But here we are, ready for a new year in the secular world.

In the world of the Church the new year started a while back and now we are in Christmastide. Today we have seven swans a swimming which, according to some, is a metaphor for the Seven Sacraments. I have a hard time buying that. It seems to me that would be much harder to remember what everything stood for and is therefore a terrible teaching tool.

Although, if you try to sing what the real words would be, it's hilarious, especially when you start repeating everything backwards, the way the song goes. Leaving you with a valuable new year's resolution: laugh more.