Commitment

I have very obviously been on a bit of a blogging break, both here and on my own blogs.  I have missed it so much!

Last summer we were offered the possibility of moving to a new house.  We were excited – the house we had been renting was in pretty rough shape, and we had hopes of being in a better situation.   Then, it looked like the opportunity was going to be lost.  We were fine with that, trusting that it was in the Lord’s plan.  A couple of months later, the opportunity opened back up again!  The house would be available after all, and work was being done to ready it for our move.  We discussed a date, were told that date would be fine, and we began preparing for the move.

Three days before the actual move was to take place, however, we were told by the man doing the work that the house would not be ready for our move date.  I would be lying if I said we weren’t frustrated!  We were practically surrounded by boxes.  We had left out what we would need for the last few days, nothing more.  But, we determined that it would be okay.  The move was supposed to be on a Saturday.  Monday morning we were supposed to be leaving for a three-day convention, with the kids going to stay with their grandparents.  We wouldn’t even have to be in the house.  And, we were promised that the new house would be ready before we returned home on Wednesday.

It wasn’t.

When my husband went Thursday morning to check the progress, it was as if nothing had been done!  We had to move by that weekend – we had no choice.  But, even Friday evening we weren’t fully certain the move would take place the next day.

When all was said and done, we did get to finally move that Saturday, one week late, allowing some last-minute things to be finished after our move.

The whole situation has really been a learning experience for me, though.  I was so very frustrated with this man who continued to make promises that he did not keep.  Some delays were beyond his control.  Others were caused by decisions he made.  My frustration was less for myself, though, and more for my children.  You see, as he made commitments to us, we were making commitments to our children.  We were telling them to just hang on until thus and such a day, and we would surely move then.  After the third date change, they didn’t know what to believe and we didn’t know what to tell them.  How could we encourage them when we were so frustrated ourselves?

And through it all, I realized something about myself.  I loosely commit to so many things with my children.

“Let me finish this, and I’ll get you that snack.”

“Put that on my sewing table and I’ll be sure to fix it.”

“We’ll play that game tomorrow, okay?”

It might be big things or little, but I make commitments to them all the time.  And, to be honest, I’m not very reliable in keeping them.  Even if I am reliable, I’m not always prompt.  I chastise my children when they nag or stress me about something they want.  But, in truth, would they nag as much if I was truly trustworthy?

I have been convicted of the need to be a mother who does not make commitments lightly, and to be one who keeps those commitments I do make.  My children need to be able to trust me explicitly to be a woman of my word.  And, I need to be teaching them by example to be children of their word as well.

A trustworthy mother – yes, that is my goal.