Here is how Merriam-Webster dictionary defines commit:
com·mit
Pronunciation:
\kə-ˈmit\
Function:
verb
Inflected Form(s):
com·mit·ted; com·mit·ting
Etymology:
Middle English committen, from Anglo-French committer, from Latin committere to connect, entrust, from com- + mittere to send
Date:
14th century
transitive verb1 a: to put into charge or trust : entrust b: to place in a prison or mental institution c: to consign or record for preservation d: to put into a place for disposal or safekeeping e: to refer (as a legislative bill) to a committee for consideration and report2: to carry into action deliberately : perpetrate 3 a: obligate, bind b: to pledge or assign to some particular course or use c: to reveal the views of intransitive verb1obsolete : to perpetrate an offense2: to obligate or pledge oneself
— com·mit·ta·ble \-ˈmi-tə-bəl\ adjective
synonyms commit, entrust, confide, consign, relegate mean to assign to a person or place for a definite purpose. commit may express the general idea of delivering into another’s charge or the special sense of transferring to a superior power or to a special place of custody . entrust implies committing with trust and confidence . confide implies entrusting with great assurance or reliance . consign suggests removing from one’s control with formality or finality . relegate implies a consigning to a particular class or sphere often with a suggestion of getting rid of .
To me, to commit is to give your word to do something. And when you give your word, you aren’t saying “I’ll try.” or “I’ll give it a shot.” When you give your word, to me, you are saying “You can trust that I will do what I am saying.” When I give my word to you, that’s exactly what I am saying to you. Trust is, IMHO, the key to commitment.
Are there circumstances that stop us from fulfilling our commitments? Of course there are. I find, as a child of God, that my commitments find their “fulfillment factor” in whether it is a commitment that is in His will. There have been commitments I have made that I was not able to fulfill. There are times (although, thanks be to God, not many) I have had to go to the person I made a commitment to and tell them it was not within my power to be able to fulfill my commitment to them. For me, this is hard. Because, to me, commitment is about trusting the person who says they will do something to do it. Break commitments on a regular basis, and that trust foundation erodes.
So, why am I writing about this? Good question, thanks for asking! I’m writing about this because I need to remember what commitment looks like. I need to remind myself that I MUST think about my commitments before entering them. Sometimes you have to look at what you are committing to - or asking someone else to commit to - and consider the “fulfillment factor”.
Sometimes you have to say “No” to a commitment. No matter how much you wish you could do it. No matter how much you know it will hurt another to say it. No matter how (much) it costs. I am not a proponent of hurting others, but I know it can hurt more to commit or be committed to, knowing at the onset you are not able to/or want to fulfill it.
Commitment is NOT the big easy. Commitment unfulfilled can leave a huge wake. Chances are you may not be aware of it - because a wake by nature is not felt as strongly by the person making it as the people coming behind them. I neither want to create a wake with my commitments, nor be behind someone leaving a wake with theirs.
Much is going to happen in the next few days for me. I have been praying that God will show me which commitments I should make, and which I should say “No” to. I ask your prayer for spiritual maturity and wisdom… these are not light-hearted commitments, they are major. And they involve other people’s lives.
No matter what, God IS in control of my life.
At His Bosom,
R
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