My Only Resolution for 2026: Submission

“Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:20-21

At the end of every year, I make just one resolution. I pick one word, and that’s my resolution for the following year. In 2025, my one-word resolution was perseverance. Little did I know how hard that would turn out to be.

This year has been particularly difficult. It began in a hospital and ended in another one: three surgeries, various heart procedures, two cases of influenza… My family has been put through the wringer, but we persevered and we made it. We had to cancel trips, rearrange events, celebrate Thanksgiving with some missing family members, skip Christmas Eve and Christmas Day parties, but we persevered and we made it. In the midst of all our difficulties, we received a lot of blessings: My grandsons were baptized and welcomed into the Catholic Church, I started writing for Catholic365, my husband and I fully retired, I completed three different consecrations to Jesus through Joseph, Mary, and the Sacred Heart, and I was able to travel six times to visit my children and grandchildren. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And this year, we got a lot of lemons; therefore, we made a lot of lemonade.

I have been thinking about my one-word resolution for 2026. Two weeks ago, I went to mass, and the entire homily was about surrender. However, surrender was my word in 2023, so I did not want to repeat it. I had to come up with something more original. Then, a few days later, I listened to a podcast, and the topic was about surrender. And when I got home, I had a surprise inside my mailbox. Out of the blue, I received a book titled “The Way of Surrender” by Vic Clesceri. It was a Christmas gift from Matthew Kelly of Dynamic Catholic. In his letter, he said: “Surrendering to God is central to the Christian life… Surrender is the path to peace and the antidote for our anxious age.” I was taken aback. I said aloud: “Are you trying to tell me something, Jesus?”

The following day, I received a message from a friend titled: “Are we living a life of thanksgiving and surrender?” Jesus could not have been any more clear. He wants me to surrender. The message that my friend sent me said: “Submission is not weakness; it is unity. It is love in action. It is recognizing Christ in our brothers and sisters… We honor leaders, husbands, wives, and fellow believers, not because they are perfect, but because Christ is present among His people.” I realized that surrender means to submit my entire life to God. And submission to God will not make me weaker; it will make me stronger because it will unite me to Him and will open me to accept His plans for my life. Therefore, my one-word resolution for 2026 will be submission, which means that I will surrender all to God and I will wait for Him to shape me, guide me, and work all things for His purpose. As Matthew Kelly said in his Christmas letter: “There’s no better time to give God your plans, your worries, your trials, and your dreams. You will be amazed what God gives you in return.”

Copyright © 2025 Christy Romero. All rights reserved. If you thought of someone while reading this, bless them by sharing it with them.