I refuse to make new resolutions! There is something about the turning of the year that calls on us to make things new. The gyms are full of new folk but a month from now the regulars will find their way to the machines cleared again by those who will financially subsidize their gym this year. It is a charitable contribution of the sort that even the most creative accountant would not tempt the IRS. And so on it goes.

There is a sick joke that says the only person who ever took weight off and kept it off was Marie Antoinette! Yes, I said sick.

What does it take for us to change?

My old teacher said that “fed-up-ness” was the greatest motivation for change that he ever saw. I am coming to see the truth of that. When we are sick and tired of being sick and tired — when our symptoms are more painful than we can bear we begin to think of the cure.

The question is do we accept the cure until the symptoms abate or until we are whole? That is the question that bears answering this Epiphany-tide.