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  Flight Paths

Maybe I Should Be Committed! 

8/13/2013

4 Comments

 
It’s been a year since I started this blog. I would be lying if I told you I always enjoyed doing it, that it was a simple matter of sitting down a few minutes a day, and that was all there was to it. I sweat over this thing, even if I am sitting in air conditioned comfort. I put two to four hours into each entry, edit it again and again, and never feel a sense of accomplishment because I just have to do it all again tomorrow. I fret over whether I can come up with something worth your while day after day, and many times the memories this brings back, especially the mistakes, stick with me long after I sign off the computer. I wonder then if I have the mental and emotional stamina to keep it up another year after all. Yet I do intend to and if I say I will do something, I believe I must follow through. That’s the way I was raised.

Commitment has become a rare commodity in our society. Maybe it is the prevalence of instant gratification through things like credit cards (no more waiting to save up the money for something) and society’s acceptance of sexual relationships outside of the marriage bond (no more waiting for the wedding). Perhaps it has something to do with the blame game—it’s never my fault if I do not have the self-control to see something through. If the teachers had been more interesting, I would have made better grades. If the boss were more reasonable, I could keep a job. If my wife had not been a nag, if my husband had been more responsible, this marriage might have lasted.  Jesus said we should think about it before we commit to anything. He said when you commit, then run out on your commitment, you become a laughingstock. Funny how our society does not see it that way any more. Jesus did not mean to say that you should think of every possible thing that might happen before you make a commitment. Let me tell you, as many things as I considered before Keith and I married, I never in a million years imagined half of what we have been through. Shooting snakes? Chasing pigs? Milking a cow? Living without running water for a month? Bandaging bullet wounds? Sometimes I think the Lord had me wired for a different century than I wound up in.

Making a commitment means that after you consider all the possibilities, you make up your mind that no matter what happens, you will follow through as long as you are physically able. It means the same thing when we commit our lives to Him. We may never face the kind of persecution that the first century Christians did, but how are we doing when people accuse us of being full of hate just because we have standards of morality and stick with them? Are we committed enough to take that?

So on this anniversary week I am making the commitment yet again. I will write again for a whole year. Since you are reading this, I assume you are making the commitment to read. The question is, can we both become better by doing this? Commitment is nothing if growth and change do not follow.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who behold begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he will be able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore whosoever of you that renounces not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple, Luke 14:28-32.

Dene Ward 

4 Comments
Karen M
8/13/2013 04:11:40 am

Thanks for all your efforts, Dene. Your daily devotional is a great way to start my day and help me get through life's journey. The personal experiences that you share all lend themselves well to the scriptures you include and provide much food for thought. Praying for you and your family every day that the Lord's blessings will continue to be with you.

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Helene link
8/13/2013 09:41:32 am

Keep it up. I love the solid Bible I get from here everyday.

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Janet Odom
8/13/2013 11:59:02 am

I love reading your blog. It helps to relate things to our everyday lives. Thank you for your time and effort.

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Netagene link
8/13/2013 02:04:13 pm

I don't read it every day, but will then sometimes read several at once. I know what you mean about how hard it is to come up with something every day. Because I live alone, a couple of friends asked me why not post a little poem every day on Facebook - just to let them know I'd made it another night. I've been writing poems, etc., almost as long as I can remember! Some days, I'd write only a couplet; other days I'd write a couple of verses. I quit after 5 1/2 months. Yes, it's real hard. But Dene, thanks so much for your writings! To God be the glory!

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    Dene Ward has taught the Bible for more than  forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.


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