Commitment

Commitment is a funny thing. We all crave to have people make a commitment to us, but are we willing to make commitments to others? The fear of commitment is a classic discussion about young men facing the possibility of marriage. However, all of us struggle with commitment. Why?

I cannot even pretend to give a definitive answer, but I will offer a thought. I believe John Maxwell calls it destination disease. All of us are holding out for what could be next. There is a tendency to leave the options open, just in case something "better" comes along. Even more challenging is our tendency to want to do it all. So we sign up for things we know we cannot possibly do, or we make commitments we want to keep, but have no way of doing it.

So what are we to do? There are a few places in scripture where we are encouraged to make our yes be yes and our no be no. That is to say if we make a commitment we meet it, and do not make a commitment we know we cannot meet. There is also a possibility we might have to follow through in commitments even if there is a possibility of something better coming along. The grass is always greener on the other side, but as Erma Bombeck reminds us, it is because it can be where the septic tank is.