My granddaughter was making a deal with her younger brother regarding a swimming competition they were about to undertake at the community pool. I had suggested that the smaller child get some kind of handicap so their race would be more fair and after much negotiation, she said to him, “now draw that up and we will sign it.”
That’s the world today. I told them my father’s handshake on a deal was all anyone needed—and that his word was his bond. He was trusted and revered in his industry, largely because of his high standards of personal ethics. I suggested, perhaps, they could shake on it and finally they did.
I get almost daily local business news emails about law suits filed and law suits settled between business parties. Naturally, these are disagreements that represent large sums of money and many times a court is needed to sort it all out. But issues of trust and commitments are broken daily all around us.
What about when we tell a friend we’ll do something for them, but we don’t? What about when we volunteer for something and decide at the last minute we don’t feel like going—and never even call. What about when a company says they’ll come and you sit there all day, but they never show up? When did doing what you said you’d do go out of style? Why are even the leaders among us often able to go against their own public pledges without remorse or explanation?
I am bothered by this. Joshua 2:21 says, “According to your words, so be it.” We are supposed to be true to our word. The very basis of trust is when small things are held sacred between two or more parties. Each does what they pledged to do so consistently, that soon they look back and see that they have built a bridge of trust that supports an uncommonly strong relationship.
But trust is vulnerable. It can take years to earn and just a matter of seconds to lose. Sure, things happen, but when “things” happen all the time that keep us from doing what we say we’d do, well, maybe its not the circumstances—it’s just us.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. Commitments are commitments, promises are promises. We at UNITE INDY believe in promises that are kept, truth that is evident, and love that is boundless—in relationship with our ministry partners, our friends in government and business, and especially with those to whom we reach out in service. None of those things have gone out of style.
Blessings,
Nancy
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