Commitment…

Commitment…promise…vow

These are sacred words. Sacred when we make one with ourselves or with another person. 

What does it mean when I make a commitment with another person… to another person? I vow to do what I said I would do. Sacred promise. Non-negotiable. It’s a commitment. 

So, what about when I make a commitment to myself? Is it as sacred and important as those I make with others? Do I give it the same ‘sacred space’ as I give others when it is to myself? 

I have had commitments broken over my lifetime. One was by proxy. I was the child of a father who decided that after 27 years and eight children, marriage was not for him. 

Devastating. Life-changing. Lasting effects.

Another was to me directly. I remember the day we sat on the couch, newly engaged, holding hands and vowing after we married that we would stay married because we would not do what our parents did. 

His commitment…I will never forget the moment or his words. 

“I will always love you. I will never hurt you.”

Then we stood before God and handful of family and friends, and made another commitment – for better or for worse, for richer or  poorer, in sickness and in health… AND THIS ONE WAS BEFORE GOD. 

Eight years later (give or take a few months) he walked away.  Irreconcilable differences. 

Devastating. Life-changing. Lasting effects. 

Today, on this third day of 2024, I’m suddenly connecting dots. Do the commitments-promises-vows made with me that have been broken have a direct correlation to my inability to commit to things that I know are good for me? Best for me and my well-being spiritually, physically, and emotionally? 

Why can I commit to others and stick to it like superglue but not stick to the commitments I make to myself? 

Commitment…promise…vow

Sacred words that I’m writing on this third day of 2024 with a new perspective… perhaps a growth mindset over my fixed mindset. 

Life-changing commitments with lasting effects. Sacred.