Commitment

“I, the undersigned, do hereby commit to writing in the aforementioned blog a minimum of once a week.”

My wife and I signed a “legal, binding” document last night. It wasn’t the first, it won’t be the last. The difference was that yesterday’s contract was an agreement we made for ourselves, by ourselves. We both decided to start this blog, and be consistent about writing in it. Nothing is off limits. World news, politics, sports, music, fears, joys, failures, successes…For richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, I will write in this blog.

Our marriage is a lasting motif for the unreasoning, unyielding love of God. Though pale in comparison, this commitment shines like fire reflecting off of a coin dropped in the grass or a window on a house nearby. We strive to be like that fire: blazing, eternal, and unrelenting until all is pure. But how can a reflective surface be made to burn like fire? It must get nearer to that fire, and jump inside it, and stay there. It must commit itself to the pressure, pain and pleasure that fire will place upon its smooth, cool veneer. It may melt. It may be lost forever, but real loss is better than false safety.

We must start over, again and again, day after day. I’m bad at that. I would carry on a grudge for weeks, months, years if my religion allowed it. I would eat the same thing every day, for every meal, and wear the same clothes every day, and take the same route to work every day, and…well, I would never change, never be transformed. This blog is our testament; our attempt at recording life as it whizzes by at the speed of light, hopefully finding meaning and learning how to be faithful to what we believe and respond in relevant ways to the people, places and things we love. This is for you, this is for us. Come on in.