It's a mystery how these letters came into our hands, yet we cannot but share them with the world - to warn you.  Screwtape has returned...Listen at your own risk... Ever found yourself laughing in the face of New Year's resolutions, knowing that your grand plans for self-improvement might just be the first joke of the year? Get ready for Screwtape to wake us up, take a stab at the annual tradition of boldly setting goals only to watch them crumble faster than our post-midnight snack resolutions. We kick off the year with a sublime look at the fleeting nature of human determination, where the only thing more abundant than confetti post-countdown is the collective self-deception we share in setting and then sidestepping our own ambitious targets. Join us for an episode packed with humorous insights and a wry look at the psychological traps we set for ourselves every January 1st. From the intoxicating rush of crafting resolutions to the sobering reality of action-less aspirations, we break down why our New Year's promises are often just well-dressed wishes waiting for the ball to drop on their parade. Our conversation may remind you to not only promise to pray, but to actually pray.   I hate to disturb your afternoon tea…HAVE YOU BEEN ON VACATION?!  … The humans have entered into a delightful new year (delightful for them, to be clear), but unless we act quickly and effectively now, the year will be as it just began—a deplorable clamor of “merrymaking joy, spiritual enthusiasm, and faith-generated hope…” “From this point forward, I will motivate myself to hit the treadmills and take the flubber out of my belly.” “From this point forward, I will not laze about at work, staring at my smartphone!” “From this point forward, I will find myself that darling of my life, whom God has prepared for me: my future spouse!” So bloody on and so bloody forth! Do you see the hilarity of these patterns yet? Doubt you can…  One moment, after a jolly-good party and feast, or after a swell night’s beauty sleep and a swill of strong caffeine, the humans will feel themselves a rush of exhilaration, and at the pitch of their joy, every sort of bold and happily made resolution will be bursting out of their lips like a hail of confetti bursting out of a twist-popper.  And in the midst of this ecstatic elation, they feel themselves—no, they think themselves capable of keeping it up for a very long time…!  Just as the recklessness of youth is deceived into thinking himself immortal and ensured to last an eternity, the blind fervor of an excitement stoked by novelty and clean-slated “new beginnings” is duped into the belief that the fervor of such resolutions will be remain as strong tomorrow as it is today. My advice in this regard will ever remain the same as it has been all these years: Make use of their eventual and inevitable exhaustion and their loss of enthusiasm after such resolutions are made…bring them to a deluded despair… For these fools have lit themselves but a dim and fleeting candle, the length of two little fingers, and believe that the fire upon the wick shall be as hotly intense and lasting as the blistering sun in the sky.   Make them think themselves perfect enough, virtuous enough, to maintain the integrity of their firmly-made resolutions and the consistency of their future efforts… Make them judge their own character so positively ahead of time, before such resolutions are truly tested, and imagine they have accomplished everything beforehand—a delicious manifestation of vainglorious self-estimation….This is the way of a veteran tempter!  Thank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!