“People with good intentions make promises. People with good character keep them.” (Unknown)
A friend made me a promise approximately nine months ago to send me a complimentary product from a company they own that I really wanted to try. I was more than grateful they were willing to do so, yet month after month went by where I continued to wait to receive it. Upon each of my inquiries surrounding it, there was always a reason that prevented them from sending it. At first it was backordered, then it was due to those backorders being filled, and eventually I’d simply get responses along the lines of “I will get that out this week”. But as of the time of me writing this, I have yet to receive the complimentary product I was promised. While the product itself is relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things in my life, it’s the principle of keeping a promise made that I truly find to be far more important.
I was once a person who made plenty of promises to others, most being done in an overly sincere fashion. I always had every intention to keep each of those promises, but more than not I didn’t because I was very self-absorbed and didn’t have the best of character. I was generally more concerned about my life and my needs and my wants more than anyone else’s, which in turn led me much of the time to shirk on many of the promises I made with others. The result was me constantly creating excuses as to why I hadn’t kept them. And if someone ever confronted me on that, and told me how disappointed they were with me, I’d only turn it back around on them and usually say they were being selfish. But indeed, it was I who was that very thing, I just never wanted to face up to that fact.
Thankfully, I care more about other people’s needs and wants these days more so than my own, which has led me to a life where I make good on each of the promises I make with others. It’s actually a pretty good feeling to be this way now, because people consider me trustworthy and a man of integrity and that’s precisely the type of person I truly want to be in life and also what I believe God wants me to be as well.
I pray that I always remain in integrity in my life by keeping the promises I make with others, knowing in doing so, that I’m not only being accountable to myself, but to God as well.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
