Today I had a less than lively conversation with my father. The topic: Me keeping my word. Now here’s something I have always professed to do, yet looking back through my history, it appears I may be the one person I know that is least successful at it.
The trigger: I said I’d call at a certain hour, but ended up calling about two hours later. I later came to find out that he had made contact with a relative who I have not spoken with in 3 years. Sadly, they happened to both be in one place when I promised to call, but regardless how patient one is, two hours is quite a stretch.
The disappointment registered in his voice told me he was not too pleased. I thought of the last time we had broached this topic.......and I realize it was hardly a week ago. And folks, I know I speak for everyone when I say that people that cannot keep their word irritate beyond compare.
There may be one of you thinking,”But it was unavoidable!! See what happened was......” and I tell you, excuses by any other name are definitely tempting. But I am favored to have audience with some very wise people. One of them once told me,”We tend to judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions.”
Now once I projected said model on myself and several situations where the above conversation would have been deemed necessary, I realize one thing: TO ANYONE BUT OURSELVES, WE EITHER DO WHAT WE SAID WE WOULD, OR WE DO NOT, AND IN EITHER CASE WE REAP THE REWARDS THEREOF. We promise to be there for a friend’s party, but whether or not the weather did not allow it, we can be at the party or be the absentee friend. If I have a job interview, I either show up or I lose my chance at the position applied for.
I do not deny that extenuating circumstances do exist. All I’m saying is that if they seem to be the norm - if it seems I am always a victim of some circumstance or other - then I need to reevaluate my actions. I need to bring to question my preparedness for the inevitable - did I leave early enough to make the appointment whether or not traffic is horrible? In my order of priority in thinking, am I living an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ life....where the current activity erases the urgency of the next?
Food for thought, but when all is said and done(or not done!), let not your words but your actions answer these questions.
