Resistance will come as surely as a new year

I'm musing on the happy memories of 2019 already. I celebrated a 30th birthday in 2019 and the birthday party was going great, until the cake came out.

Instead of a real cake, my friends only brought out a photo of a cake. Cheapskates! No wonder I couldn't blow out the candles!

I pointed out the now-obvious fact; "Hey, this cake is fake!" Their response was quick and cruel, "As fake as your claims of turning 30".

There's only one thing more frustrating than telling the truth when everyone around you is telling lies, and that's telling lies when everyone around you is telling the truth.

But age is only a number, right? Unfortunately, it's the most important number in the universe.

Still, "double standards" I say! In this age of identity politics, even when it came to "gift time" at my own birthday party, it brought tears to my eyes when "friends" wouldn't let me identify as a 30-year-old man with zero annual income. Neither will the Tax Office, I discovered the hard way.

I hadn't felt this alone since the time I got lost at the Easter Show when I was only four years old. As the hours passed and I began to cry the police officer reassured me: "Don't worry son, we'll find your mummy and daddy. There's only so many places they can hide".

Of course, Christmas 2019 wasn't exactly Christmas either. I wrote a friendly letter to Santa Claus last month for the first time since I was 12:

"Dear Father Christmas, if you don't bring me any presents 'again' this year, I'm going to tell everyone you get all your toys from the tip."

I know I shouldn't have shown him my dark side by writing the letter, but he's going to find out who's naughty and nice anyway!

Jolly old St Nicholas wrote back the rudest letter he's ever sent me:

"Dear Father Brendan, who's going to believe you after that 'I'm only 30' stunt you pulled on your birthday?!"

Touché, as they say in China. Or is it Egypt? I'm sure that word is said in some way, everywhere in the world many times a year when a clever point is made at our expense by another person. But imagine saying it to a year. Imagine pondering on all things lost and not gained in 2019 and saying "touché 2019".

If we could, what would 2019 say back? Maybe, "I gave you a year and only quit after a year, but you gave up before me," for as studies have shown, most people who make New Year's resolutions have given up on them while they are still in January.

When you begin a difficult task - not always, but often - assistance abounds. Friends assist with encouragement, and serendipity and fortune smile on you. There's an ancient Latin proverb "fortune favours the bold" and is a common phrase among the US Army to this day.

So what goes wrong? We give up. Why?

It's not popular to say this, but just as there is assistance, there's also resistance too. Ancient Chinese philosophy might call it the "yin", we Christians might call it "the world, the flesh, and the devil" and if you have tried to reach a worthy goal you know about resistance.

Nay, life's path doesn't always reveal assistance, but resistance shows up again and again on your life's journey.

We're not being positive denying resistance; we're more like skydivers denying gravity. To only rely on assistance in 2020 and not prepare for resistance is worse than being blind, for even the blind hold out a stick before them in anticipation of resistance.

Knowing that resistance will come for you in 2020 is like having 20/20 vision; you'll see it because you were expecting it.

What do you do when resistance turns up? You resist it. You persist. You've only lost when you give up. Jesus said "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours". Resist against resistance in 2020 and your prayers will be answered. Happy New Year.

Twitter: @frbrendanelee