Say what I intend

I have a group of friends that live all over the country. We try to get together once a year, but it doesn't always happen. Some of us are better about keeping up in between times than others, but everyone comes when we get together. At the end of each of our weekends, one of the girls always says, "I know I say this every time, but I really am going to try to be better at keeping in touch." We all know it's not going to happen, but everyone smiles and hugs and says good bye.

In Haiti, the missionary pastor led our devotions each evening. He asked us to use personal pronouns when we were sharing. Instead of saying, "We say yes, when we mean maybe" he challenged us to say, "I want to be a person of my word. I want to say yes and mean yes. I want to say no and mean no." Using personal pronouns encourages transparency and intimacy. I've really tried hard to do that over the past 6 weeks. When I typed this blog post title, I first typed "Say what we intend" then immediately went back to change it.

I have zero control over what others do.

I do have control over my actions and I can say what I mean. I can follow up on what I have promised. I can say no and not waffle later.

I am working to be better at that!