January 16: School Mass

Once upon a time, there was a fourth-grade class at a Catholic School, The class had 30 students. The fourth-grade teacher offered each of her children a chance to make a new year’s resolution and promised that each resolution, without their names attached, would be placed on the hallway bulletin board. The whole school would get to see what the fourth-grade class was working to improve in the new year.

When the bulletin board was created, in early January, there were 29 resolutions posted. The student whose resolution did not get posted immediately and angrily went to the teacher. He complained bitterly that his resolution did not get posted. He shouted that this was unfair, and that he would not take “being left out” lightly.

The teacher apologized, tried to figure out how the innocent mistake had been made, and looked frantically for the missing resolution. Later that day, she found the piece of paper with the “lost” resolution. It had slipped under her desk. She prepared to add it the bulletin board, but found it ironic that it read: “I resolve not to get upset about the little things and especially the things that are beyond my control.”

How are our new year’s resolutions going? Are we working on not worrying about the little things and the many things that are beyond our control?