Commitment

I am attending the Simbang Gabi masses and days before it started, I planned to complete the 9 nights of it, that is, before the mass for Christmas. I mentioned 'night' because it is held at night in my part of the world. There is no pre-dawn masses here.

I 'planned' to complete the 9 nights of it..

Another way of saying it could be, 'I will attend the masses as much as my time would permit,' or 'I will attend the masses if I don't have other things to do or  if I don't have anywhere else to go.' From the sound of it, going for the Simbang Gabi mass would be my second option.

Now that Christmas is fast approaching and everyone is preoccupied with all the preparations for the get-together's and parties, it will be a little hard to manage time on weekends and after office hours as we need a lot of time to go shopping for new personal stuff and gifts. This only mean that it's a little hard to squeeze-in the Simbang Gabi masses in our daily schedule, much more to think that it ends a day before the big 'C' Day and that's also the time that our shopping must be complete.

Whoever needs to review time management?

Last night was was my 5th Simbang Gabi mass and I have not missed any just yet from Night 1, and there will only be 4 more nights to go. Chances are, I'd complete the 9 Simbang Gabi masses this year. But what if chances doesn't permit?

If I attended the previous 5 nights in a row, without being absent and without being late - what message do you think am I trying to send from here? 

My dear friends, I changed my plan of 'planning' to complete the 9 nights of it. I did not plan anymore after the 1st night. 

I made a commitment, instead. I committed myself to complete the 9 nights of it. I gave my commitment to God. I gave my commitment to the Lord.

The Simbang Gabi is now my priority, above anything else. I may have lack time to do my shopping and to complete the gifts for everyone in my list but I can do all that later. Though the nicey stores are closed at 10 in the evening and that's about the time the mass is ending, I need to find ways to squeeze-in shopping and everything else that needs to done or anything else that needs to be attended to. After all, I have to thank the Giver first for the blessings He bestow upon me before I splurge them out.

Commitment for me is not having second-thoughts,  no backing-outs and no changing of mind. It means standing to what I have committed with no matter what.  It is doing what I have committed to do without any excuses and not only when circumstances permits. It is a self-imposed obligation and a promise I made to myself that must not be broken.