Over the last few posts I’ve written about FOMO (Fear of missing out) and how in some cases, FOMO can paradoxically compromise our willingness to make commitments.

If you’ve ever been in leadership, or in a relationship with other human beings in general, it is really, really hard to get people to commit.

I’m no different.

But, I firmly believe that we are hurting ourselves.

In our fast-paced, quick-fix, instant-gratification culture we have bought into a way of life that doesn’t have the patience to persevere.

If we don’t get what we want out of someone or something right away, we toss it aside and move on.

This is extremely foolish.

You see, many of us are like a person who discovers an ornate treasure chest.

We are instantly amazed at the beauty and excited about the possibilities of what might be inside.

We eagerly flip the latch and try to open it.

But it’s a little stuck.

It’s not opening as easily as we thought.

We give a little tug or two, but the lid is heavy and the hinges are rusty.

We don’t have anything to pry it up with or to oil the hinges.

And, you know, we’ve got other things to do.

So, we quickly lose interest and convince ourselves that there probably isn’t anything of value in it. We enjoyed looking at the outside, but this is too much work.

We move on.

Do you know of any elderly couples who regret being married to the same person for 50 years – despite ALL the hard times that they surely went through? As if they’d say, “yeah, I wish I would have traded this relationship for a million flings over the years.”

Or have you come upon someone who said, “I really wish I hadn’t invested so much time in this friendship” ?

Or, “Yeah, I should have remained isolated and not gone to that small group where I built life-long relationships that literally saved my life about a dozen times.”

I really believe that there are incredible treasures to be found if we will simply make commitments and stick to them.

Yes, they take effort, and sometimes there is pain and frustration involved.

But once you finally get that treasure chest open, all of that will seem insignificant compared to the extraordinary value of what you’ve found inside.

So, may I encourage you to keep following through, keep showing up, keep doing the hard thing that you don’t really feel like doing because you WILL reap a harvest.

And it will be well worth it.