A Natural Bridge – Monthly Letter from Our Minister
The New Year begins with Integrity as the worship theme for January. It’s a good beginning. Integrity concerns morality and goodness, wholeness and connection; it’s about being in right relationship with one’s vision of oneself.
As we think of New Year’s resolutions, even those of us who refuse to make them, we look for a better sense of self. Integrity has the same roots as integer and an integer is a whole number, one without fractions or decimal points hanging on. At New Years we think how we might become whole numbers. Do we round up or round down? Let go or add to? And how honest are we going to be with ourselves in the process of trying.
The Soul Matters materials suggest a few Spiritual Exercises to consider this month. “Option A: A New Year of Integrity. New Year’s resolutions are often about changing oneself. In light of this month’s theme, make it about holding on to (or remaining loyal to) yourself instead. Pick one thing that makes you distinctively you and then resolve to protect, celebrate or live into it for at least a month. Think of it as a “resolution to your integrity.”
I especially like the phrase, “remaining loyal to yourself”. Let’s give it a try. Let’s make resolutions for right relationship with ourselves, so we might become more fully ourselves, more fully the whole number we already are.
Yes, you. The You, you are.
Happy New Year!
—Jim McKinley, UUFH Minister