Keeping Promises

Accountability is an important aspect of growth in any area of life.

When I joined Weight Watchers eight years ago, I paid them good money to keep me accountable. I had a goal, but I needed the prompting of weekly weigh-ins and tips to help me attain that goal. (My husband said he would be glad to keep me accountable if I paid him that money, but he didn’t offer any little booklets or badges to mark progress.

I know of a group of young men who meet weekly before work to pray and study God’s word, and to share their challenges and victories. They hold one another accountable for the choices they make, and I strongly believe they and their families and their communities are better off for it.

Accountability in the writing life is often difficult to nail down. We writers usually work alone. There are programs and apps to keep us on course, to track our daily word count. We have actual and virtual groups that are willing to provide feedback regarding our journey.

In spite of all these options, we are still ultimately responsible for our own growth, for our choices, our use of time, our approach to goal-setting. What works well for one does not always make the difference to another.

For me, a promise is a strong stimulus to keep going. In January of this year, I set a goal to write a specifically categorized blogpost for every week. With God’s help, a couple of reposts from writer friends, and a lot of time, I am now putting the finishing touches on my posts for this calendar year. The satisfaction of keeping a promise is high reward for me. Next to satisfaction is the response of a friend or two to a particular post. Thank you to all of you who have commented.

If I can touch a life now and then with these posts, they are well worth the effort. I hope you have received some encouragement from my blogs, as I have from the blogs of others.