A couple weeks ago Rena made a commitment to walk with me every day for seven days. After she had already committed to this she learned that I was going to be out of town on a business trip. In the past, we would have done what most people do under these circumstances. We would have justified why we couldn’t follow through on our commitment and given up.
But we’ve learned that excuses don’t get things done. Instead of just giving up, we came up with a few ideas on what we could do. We decided that we would each walk/run in our separate locations at the same time while we were on the phone with each other.
I ran, and she walked, and she kept her commitment to walk with me for the seven days.
We have been learning that once we make our commitment clear, ways to keep our commitment open up to us. Occasionally, circumstances really do warrant breaking a commitment, but we break commitments far more often than the circumstances really warrant. When we get really clear on a commitment, instead of finding excuses to break the commitment, we find ways to keep the commitment.
Unfortunately, this not a “one and done” lesson to learn. We need to continue to apply this principle as we encounter new experiences and circumstances. Rena and I have learned this lesson, and, yet, we are still learning it and applying it with varying degrees of success.
A part of the journey to live our calling is to learn to make and keep our commitments, especially the ones to ourselves. Stepping out into the zone of the unknown and trying something new is hard. If we let any excuse stop us, we’re going to spend most of our time being stuck, and we won’t contribute to the world and experience life to the full.
Tell us about a time when you made a commitment and you followed through on it even when it was tough. How did you feel afterwards?
