''One thing you can give and still keep...is your word.''
We all know people who do what they say they're going to do and those who we say to ourselves, yea I'll believe it when I see it. It's easy to entrust someone with a task or favor, if we believe in what they say they will do. Our word is our bond to others. If you say it, fulfill it. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Its better not to over extend yourself in commitments than to agree on something and disappoint those counting on you. It used to be that a handshake and your word was as good as a written legal document. Where has our word gone?
Yes, life happens and things get bumped but we all can be understanding and forgiving to those situations. For the most part tho, we need to be people that can be trusted to do what we said we'd do.
The following I copied from Todd Smith's website.
Starting today, become a person who lives up to your word and does what you say you will even when circumstances change.
Uphold your word with a good attitude. Remember that it was you who said “yes” in the first place.
Take every opportunity to learn from your commitments so that you can make better decisions in the future.
Finally, do you have any unfulfilled commitments? Do them now. You will feel better.
Keeping your word is one of the most effective ways to earn the respect of others and build a solid reputation, both personally and professionally.
There's a verse somewhere in the Bible (?) that says to keep your word/promise even if you've sworn to your own hurt.
ReplyDeleteI think of the many children who have suffered from an unkept promise by a mom or dad or someone else that they have trusted. Oh, that we may never cause a little one, or anyone else, to stumble or be disappointed because we selfishly did not keep our word!
ReplyDelete"Say what you mean, and mean what you say" gets quoted around here often. I am a firm believer in not "beating around the bush" or making hints as to what one means. I like a word aptly spoken. This was a good reminder...at this stage in life, I'm afraid to commit to things. Ask Amy, my word is not always fulfilled. Need to work on that.
ReplyDeleteAgain, such good advice, Angie. I have heard Carolyn Dorsey say often that the Bible tells us to "Let your yes be yes and your no be no"....Matthew 5:37. I can remember when I was a little girl, and my Daddy's handshake was all that was needed to know that he would keep his promises. Unfortunately, this world and the fact that so many have not kept their word has caused us to need all kinds of legal documents to "help" people live up to what they say they will do. We need to do our best to be accountable, not only to others, but especially to God,and I am talking to myself here! Love you, Twylia
ReplyDeleteHi angie, I read your blog about keeping your word. The following is a true story, circa 1974:
ReplyDeleteJoyce and I placed an ad to rent a farmhouse. Bud and Barbara Siegel phoned, said they had one they might rent, and invited us out to visit and see the house. It was an old two-story house with a furnace in the basement that radiated heat up through a grate in the floor. Upstairs, where the bedrooms were, was unheated. There was a hand pump for water outside. Barbara had lived her entire life in that house. She was born in it, grew up there, and after marriage she and Bud lived there and raised their family. But they were aging, and built a more modern house with no stairs to climb, heat in the bedroom, and automatic water. We met them, looked the place over, and said we’d like to rent it. Well, they wanted to be extra careful because the house meant an awful lot to them, and they had never rented it out before. So they said they would get a lawyer to write up a proper rental contract, and arranged for us to come back to sign it. When the time came, they showed us the contract and said the legal terminology sounded harsh and made them uncomfortable. It didn’t seem like the way they wanted to do business with someone they thought enough of to trust their house to. Bud said, “We just figure if a man’s word ain’t good, what is?”, and tore up the contract. That day we gained a home, a valuable lesson, and some lifelong friends.
and here is something else you might like to see, something that is part of my personal philosophy that I wrote a long time ago:
Forgetting is not a valid excuse for breaking your word. Giving your word obligates you to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that you keep it.
and another saying of mine: choose your words carefully, and remember what you said.
So you can see that I certainly agree with you on this subject. So that's the truth. And that's that.
Duke