Commitments and Priorities

Commitment is really about priorities.  Committing to something is making two statements: this thing I am committing to is a high priority, and I will continue valuing it as a priority in the future.

Having priorities does not necessitate commitment.  That is the difference between a "relationship" and a marriage.  In my current context out at the camp I live at, that is the difference between being a resident volunteer and being a staff member.  I have the freedom to change my priorities at will, since I have very few commitments to maintain.

Our first commitment should be to God.  At no point should some other priority become higher, and at no point should that priority be lowered.  Marriage is usually regarded as the second highest commitment, as a covenant relationship.  Beyond that there are family, the church, and other people in general, as well as work, and service.

From a certain perspective I am one who avoids commitments, but that is because when I do actually commit to something, I have every intention of fulfilling it, no matter the cost.  This usually leads to most of my commitments having qualifiers, since I am very conscious of where things fit on the priority list, and I avoid placing things higher on that list than they belong.

For many years my career has been pretty high on that priority list, but it was never at the top.  I have never missed a major holiday family gathering, and definitely not for work.  Over the past year, I have slowly adjusted to placing "work" (specifically paying projects) lower on my list.  I am someone who nearly always "works" in one form or another, whether I am helping someone move, climbing tall objects, or editing videos.  There is no intrinsic reason to prioritize work that earns money above work that just helps other people.  I have been doing that for the last year or so, but that is beginning to change as I separate my identity from my career.

As another example, I have invested a lot of time into this blog, and have been quite consistent in my postings, but during my recent travels, the time to do so had not been readily available.  I still could have done it, at the expense of sleep, just to maintain my record, but commitment for its own sake its not intrinsically good.  Having a reputation for reliably following through on one's commitments is valuable, but we shouldn't maintain that reputation for our own pride.  While following through on commitments says a lot about a person's character, so do those things they don't do, in order to honor commitments higher on the list.  It really comes down to not making commitments that could eventually conflict with higher priorities.