According to recent statistics about half of you reading this have made at least one new year's resolution. The decision to change our lives is not an easy one, Ralph Waldo Emmerson once said, "Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them." While the decision to change and become better is a good and courageous decision, statistics also show that 88% of you that have made resolutions will fail in keeping them. Unfortunately, these almost inevitable failures usually cause so much dissapointment that people just give up on their resolutions. President Thomas S. Monson has said, "even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve...Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, 'I'll try again tomorrow'" So where do we gather this courage from? The Apostle Paul helps answer this question for us, "I can do all things through Christ which stregtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13) If we look to Christ for help we can change and become, as Paul says, a "new creature in Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
