All You Have is Your Word: Fatherly Advice to Follow

In my family growing up, you would hear this phrase often;

“All you have is your word”

It wasn’t used as some line in a movie or for emphasis on some lecture we were getting, it was a true expectation from my dad.  He would tell us that keeping our word was as core in our family as our faith in many ways.  It showed people who we were.  You carried the family name and keeping your promises was part of carrying that name. Ensuring it was meaningful and trustworthy.

It sounds simple but it’s really not.

Think about it, people give their word for many reasons that end up scrapped; marriage vows, bank loan, a business partnership, even helping out a friend with some menial chore.   We justify the decision somehow to make it easier on ourselves but we just broke our word, our promise.

Each time we lose a little credibility and the family (or business) name is injured, sometimes irreparably.

Doing what you said you were going to do, no matter the cost, is keeping your word and all you have is your word.

*special thanks to my dad for all the great lessons including this one.