COMMITMENT

Today marks five months since the passing of my lovely bride.  The grief books say that anniversaries are some of the toughest times for those who have lost a loved one.  And at this point, I would have to agree, as this whole week has had some rather emotionally rough moments in it!  Sometimes it’s triggered by a glancing notice of a picture on the wall, a fleeting memory or the sudden heart-wrenching reality of just how much I miss her.

On Thursday I was made aware of the thought that Piper had spent the entirety of her adult life as my special girl!  Three years as my steady date, two as my fiancé, and 43 as my wife.  For some reason, that was very meaningful to me.  She chose to go down in the annuals of history as being completely, lovingly and forever connected to me.  Now that says something! 

I’ve often times wondered over these past five months what it was like for her to know that the guy she’d been with since a teenager, had been and was always completely CRAZY about and totally devoted to her?  I would hope that it was one of the contributing reasons behind her lifelong self-confidence, creativity, peace, joy and the ability to never lose her childlike faith in God and His Word.

In the midst of all my rollercoaster emotions and literal heart-ache this week, the Lord has been talking to me about the idea of COMMITMENT.  The Oxford Online Dictionary defines the word COMMITMENT as:

1.     the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc..

"the company's commitment to quality"

synonyms:

dedication · devotion · allegiance · loyalty · faithfulness · fidelity · bond ·

[more]

·       a pledge or undertaking.

"I cannot make such a commitment at the moment"

synonyms:

vow · promise · pledge · oath · covenant · contract · pact · deal ·

[more]

2.     (commitments)

an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.

"business commitments" ·

[more]

synonyms:

responsibility · obligation · duty · tie · charge · liability · burden ·

Joshua 24:14 tells us “"So now: Fear GOD. Worship him in total commitment...” (MSG)  And in John 6:29 Jesus told His listeners to “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God's works." (MSG)

Without trying to slap myself on the back, I believe that among other things, that with His words on COMMITMENT, the good Lord was trying to encourage me with the knowledge that throughout all the hard times of the last chapter of Piper’s earthly existence, I never relinquished on my COMMITMENT to her. 

The first life-long COMMITMENT we made to each other was part and parcel of our marriage vows taken a little after 1:00 PM on a sunny Saturday afternoon on July 12, 1975.  The other was in the prayer of agreement we prayed late on the evening of August 26, 2007 in the kitchen of our home in Broken Arrow Oklahoma, after receiving the startling results of her first MRI earlier that day.

Without a doubt, the greatest hurt I endured besides watching the one you love with every fiber of you being fade away before you, was when a small select group of individuals began to voice their concerns of my COMMITMENT to Piper in her greatest time of need.  And I have to admit that even though I have forgiven them and have moved on… the occasional memory of those completely out-of-reality accusations still brings me to tears.

The truth be known, their dreamed-up assumptions really had zero effect on our faith but in point of fact, acted as a stimulus toward developing an even greater belief in getting us “in on God's works” as Jesus mentioned in John 6:29.  I Peter 4:14 declares that “If you're abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. It's the Spirit of God and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others.” (MSG) 

I have also learned that this unwarranted attack was not only one leveled against the Word of God that we were standing on, but also a direct barrage of the enemy of our souls in an attempt to break the COMMITMENT or agreement that Piper and I had made with each other.  It was the outlandish idea that such a discussion would even be considered against my love and COMMITMENT to Piper that really shook me and not that it might disturb our COMMITMENT to each other.

When I held her hands and looked into her young eyes in 1975 and again at those same but now beautifully matured eyes in 2007, I made a COMMITMENT to her, and her to me, that extended down through our hearts and into every part and parcel of our lives. There was NEVER a thought with either of a us of yielding to any pressure that might cause us to not follow through on our COMMITMENT to each other… and I kept that promise until the very end. 

Our kids will confirm the fact that I pretty much spent the last week of her life sitting on the bed next to her in our bedroom 24 hours a day!  I wanted her to always know… especially at the very end, that she was NEVER alone, never forsaken, never given up on and always loved by the one she came into agreement with, beginning in 1975… and the last time in 2007.

And you know?  I may have made an unbreakable commitment to my wife for her lifelong wellbeing, but it doesn’t compare in depth and scope to the lifelong COMMITMENT that our Father God has made to each one of us!  In a time of great concern, anxiety and change, the Lord confirmed His COMMITMENT to those committed to Him back then, and I believe to us as well today saying: “No one will be able to oppose you successfully as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will never neglect you or abandon you.”  (Joshua 1:5 God’s Word ©)

The key for you and me is our COMMITMENT to Him, for as Jesus Himself promised us, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. (for) That kind of a COMMITMENT gets you in on God's works." (MSG) 

I want to get in on those works… don’t you?  After a fairly cold week, I can see as I glance out our back window right now, that the thermometer on our deck is already reading a balmy 60 degrees… so I’m looking forward to the sun on my back today!  Have a wonderful weekend, have some fun and keep saying with me… “I am expecting to continually walk in COMMITMENT to God and His Word to me… so that I can be assured of getting in on His good works!”