The Commitment Crucible
Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon and Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67-68)
This was a great piece of text for me to read and it really got me thinking about the commitments I have in my life and how I approach them. As Maxwell says in this text commitment is not an emotion it is a character trait. A character trait is something built or instilled deep inside a person. When I think of a committed man I immediately think of my father. He raised me to honor my commitments and always do things to the best of my ability. He rarely acts out of emotion and seems to always come back to his core values and objectives during times of adversity.
Growing up a huge emphasis was put on honoring my commitments that affect others. I’ll call these public commitments. These would be commitments to my sports teams, teachers, family, church, and anything else that others knew about or that would affect other people. A lesson I learned in my adult life is how to manage commitments to myself. These are things like a battle you have with call reluctance, getting to work early, anger, or as simple as taking your vitamin every morning. I became ok with failing to follow through with commitments I made to myself and focused mostly on my public commitments. Following through with public commitments is very important and greatly effects people’s perception of you. It also forces you to become what other people want you to become. A product of your environment. The commitments that you make to yourself allow you to take control of the steering wheel, pump your own gas, and set the GPS for your next destination. Being fully committed to yourself gives you the power to overcome obstacles and build the life that you want not the life others want for you.
Richie Palma 