"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Many cultures celebrate New Year's Day on March 21st, the Spring Equinox. It sure would be a lot easier if we all did and a lot more fun. I guess I'm just too old and beat up to enjoy the cold. Well, I already have a 2009 calendar so, Happy New Year and welcome to the January newsletter.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My attention span doesn't allow for effective New Year's resolutions, so I never make any. I used to have fun trying though, when I was young.

When I was an impressionable, wide-eyed child, I listened to adults talking about bold resolutions such as losing weight or quitting drinking and smoking. Of course they'd be lighting another Camel as they put away a shot and beer after a polishing off a rather large portion of my mother's overly abundant German cooking.

Still, I would try a bold resolution of my own, once I looked up "resolution". My first attempt was to say I would do better in school, like that would happen.

You're talking about a kid who, as a first grader, asked the teacher if he could get a drink of water. I guess the teacher assumed I meant at the drinking fountain right outside the classroom door whereas I meant the kitchen faucet at home. Silly teacher! She should have taken her own advice about assumptions.

Other things made first grade tough as well. For instance, the TV show Zorro was my favorite in those days. Zorro was cool and I thought it was even cooler when he put a "Z" on everything. Little did I know that signing my name as Zorro or simply leaving a "Z" on my homework wasn't sufficient identification. Those teachers had no sense of humor.

I guess a resolution was more of a request by my parents and teacher. It was looking like this "school" thing could be problematic without at least looking like I was trying to comply.

Now, if anyone reading this is old enough to remember the mid 50's, Davy Crockett was not only a TV show but a number one song and every young boy got an "official" coonskin cap for Christmas that year. I was no exception and I gave up being Zorro that year. That was the perfect and easy resolution, after all.

Apparently that was not enough of a resolution for the adults in my life so they turned to a higher authority for special guidance; my grandma McKee.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Grandma McKee was the quintessential "little old lady" with her hair in a bun, looking like a Victorian librarian, but make no mistake, she was tough as nails. I may have worn her down a little but she made me learn that a New Year's resolution was the same as making a promise and if you want to be taken seriously in life, you don't go back on a promise.

One thing she did, that is not taught today, was read to me from the Bible and oddly enough, I liked it. She sensed that I needed to be challenged and she reasoned that if I was bright enough to drive the teachers and my parent's nuts, I was bright enough to learn Bible stories.

The Bible had a story to help me through any trouble I would face in life. Of course, I had a hard time believing that Zorro or Davey Crockett had ever read a Bible but she assured me they did; how else could they grow up to be heroes and face so many adversaries? They also were true to their words which were words God taught them. Grandma could sure pour it on thick but she got her point across.

She died when I was still a kid but when she died, I resolved never to depart from the way she taught me to go. It was a lot tougher than simply saying I would do better in school; there was no one watching and correcting me. It was a resolution made from the heart and a promise that could define my life.

If you make a New Year's resolution this time around, make one you will keep. They are not merely empty promises and even though few take them seriously, they are still a promise and God hears you. That's not as tough as having a little old lady with her hair in a bun, watching you but it should make you think twice before giving up.