What Does Commitment Really Mean
Recently, I attended a wedding of a close friend of ours and something happened at the wedding that I really loved.
First of all, this wedding was the most like a church or worship service of any wedding I had ever been to; particularly for a wedding that wasn’t in a church. This was a wedding that was outside at a beautiful venue, but they had worship music. It had charming scenery and great people. The spirit of the wedding was truly one of a union of the two spouses, but also with the Creator.
The scene was really beautiful, but it was one of the things that were said in the vows of this young couple that I loved and admired most. They had written their vows, and the woman said this:
“I promise to be faithful to you in both body and mind.”
It was the last part that caught my attention, the “and mind”. Because that is a level of commitment that is truly exceptional. That is a level of faithfulness that is truly powerful. It is a level of faithfulness that creates deep, rich, meaningful relationships.
It is not just being faithful in body.
It’s not just, ” I won’t cheat on you,”.
It’s not just, “I won’t have sex with another person,” or “I won’t kiss another person.”
It’s being willing to even be faithful in mind.
That is the challenge I have for you, and the challenge that I have posed for myself.
Personal Commitment
Could you be so committed personally that you would submit to also having completely pure thoughts? Not just with you body – but are you willing to be faithful with your thoughts?
Because if that’s you…
It means that “I won’t allow my brain to wander towards sexual temptation or sexual indulgence.” And that is really powerful. You can quickly see the higher level of commitment that takes versus just being faithful in the body.
I think we can all appreciate and say, “Yah, I would really love it for my spouse to be faithful in mind as – well as in body.” Because that suggests a higher level of personal commitment.
But commitment doesn’t just have to be in your romantic relationships.
A committed mind can also be to your:
- Goals
- Attitude
- Self-talk
- Pursuits
- Teammates
- Employees
It’s not just to be faithful to them in action, although you should be. But, are you faithful to them in mind?
Commitment Quote
And so here is a concept that I want you to spend a minute thinking about:
““If the entire world could hear every single thought that you had, would you be proud or ashamed?” ”
Would you be afraid of what people might find out? I know that I personally would be terrified – and I even consider myself to be a person of fairly disciplined mind.
It’s been a huge part of my life’s work to develop a training program focused on how to help other people create discipline around their thinking and their mindset thereby helping them to be better leaders and influencers.
I think for the most part I have a pretty clean mind, but I don’t have a perfectly clean mind. There’s no doubt that there are nasty things that I have thought about people, situations, things and even about myself that I would be scared, terrified, and ashamed if they were broadcast out to the world.
But that is a new standard to live by, right? That is something powerful. It is something worth aspiring to – live as if people can read your mind as well as see your actions.
What if people followed me around everywhere, and they could see every website I was clicking on? What if they could see every bar I was going to and every piece of food I was ordering and everything I was putting into my body?
Seeing my actions is one thing. It would be a whole other thing if they could hear my thoughts. What would people say about you if they could hear your thoughts? And what would people say about me if they could hear my thoughts?
Would they be inspired? Would they be empowered? Would they say, “Rory is an amazing leader. He is an amazing friend and husband. He truly thinks about his employees, customers, and colleagues in only the most uplifting, abundant and caring ways.”
I have that hope for my life. And, I have that hope for your life. Not because anybody would ever find out, but because living life like that means you never have anything to hide. Living a life like that means you are cultivating gratitude.
Living life to that level of commitment internally will manifest a life externally of tremendous abundance, tremendous power, tremendous influence, and tremendous relationships.
That is something worth aspiring to. That is a life worth living. And that life is available to you, not just by being faithful in body, but by being faithful in mind.
Are you faithful in mind? Leave me a comment below about what you’re thinking.
