Commitment: It's not a 4-letter word.

There's not a whole lot of sticktoitiveness in my generation.  I'm not going to lie.  We're fickle.

We don't like the degree we graduated from college with so we bounce from career to career without an ounce of loyalty to the employers who took a risk on hiring us.  Turns out, they probably shouldn't have.  

We don't feel like doing something we committed to, so we make up a lie, feign illness, simply don't bother to show up.  Maybe there's a twinge of guilt, but more likely there's the feeling of "everyone does it" to rebuff that.

We back out of our friendships and even our marriages in pursuit of self.  We forget that no one is perfect, yet we demand it from others and expect forgiveness when we ourselves fall short.  We leave the escape hatch open at all times.

We make demands, cry out against countless injustices, preach from our pulpits (and blog posts) but we sit on our duff and complain when nothing changes. 

We say one thing, and we do another. 

We think one thing, and we say another.

Catch the drift?

If only there were some place we could look to for guidance on how to act.  Some sort of infallible resource that would teach us right from wrong on these matters.

Oh wait...

It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. ~Ecclesiastes 5:5

That verse really stuck out to me when I was reading the Bible through this year.  There are a couple few a lot of important lessons that I think have been completely lost on my peers (myself included).  Maybe it's just simple courtesy, etiquette, common decency, but we're lacking it.  I don't claim to be perfect.  I don't claim to be high and mighty.  I know that I am dead-wrong, off-base, and completely fallible on a daily basis.  The good news it that I don't have to count on myself to get it right.  I just have to believe that Jesus already did it.  It's done.  He took care of it.  For all of us, forever.  But that doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to do the right thing.  Even if it's as simple as following through on a commitment.  If people can't trust our word, what can they trust?

In the matter of making commitments, the Bible is clear.  If you can't or don't intend to follow through, don't even say it out loud.  Don't make a promise you can't keep.  It's that simple. 

Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. ~ Matthew 5:37

This passage is referenced a lot in Christian parenting how-to books.  But I think it's applicable on the point of commitments as well, if only for the fact that in a Suess-like way, it simply says- say what you mean and mean what you say - concisely.    

That's easy enough, right?

At least, it sure should be.  I guess I'll make it start with me.

Integrity.