Commitment Check (12/27/2024)

I’ve been pondering the future of my website, questioning whether it is serving the LORD and others as I had hoped when I launched it in February of 2021. I wondered if I was doing it out of obligation or real dedication. And then the Spirit stepped in. And my website platform changed its settings without my knowledge. My readers were no longer receiving notification of my posts. I believe it was a test of my commitment. Would I say, “Oh, well” and quit? Or would I seek a resolution?

After three days of trying to figure it out, I believe I have. Hopefully, this morning everyone received a notification of my Daily Scripture reading and reflection. And hopefully, this morning everyone will receive a notification of this blog entry, as well. The solution adds 4 additional steps to my process for each blog posting. That’s a small price, I figure, if it is serving the LORD, others, my companions on the journey, and me.

The first two days of this problem, I just shrugged and put it under the “it’s a fluke” column of my life. It was the final stretch of Christmas preparations for my family gathering and for my own personal journey. But yesterday, after days of it not working, I dug deeper, not just into what was happening with the website but what was happening with me. It was a providential deep dive. And I found myself admitting my need to “re-engage,” admitting that I was showing up for the event but missing the experience, admitting I had strayed incrementally from my initial hopes and devotion.

Life is like that sometimes, don’t you know. We make commitments, we go along doing what we’ve always done, but without realizing it at first, our enthusiasm wanes and our dedication stales. While the website problem was new for me, the “wellness check” on my commitment to the Way isn’t. I have realized I have an uncanny talent for straying incrementally. The changes are small, almost non-detectable, but they begin to add up until I find myself so far off the true path even a champion bloodhound would have trouble retrieving me. But the Spirit is far superior to any earthly hound and can find me no matter how far I have strayed. And so, I thank the LORD and providence. I believe this change in my website protocol and process came just when it was needed.

Initially, my blogs were intended to use my own journey as a springboard for discussion about all our journeys, not just mine. It was to provide a way for all of us to consider our journeys of faith, hope, and love. It was a way for me to offer support to others who are struggling in the moment from my own experiences of struggle. God writes straight with crooked lines. The Spirit used a website change to challenge me to go deeper, to re-engage, to look inward. Thanks, LORD. I needed that.

As we continue our journeys striving to grow daily in our faith, relying upon our hope in our trustworthy LORD, and depending upon the love of the LORD as our fuel without which we cannot live, let us tend to our commitments to the LORD and one another. Let us fight the dulling tendency of repetition in life. Let us commit to staying forever alert for opportunities to love well and love long.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.