A friend once told me of a church that starts each year by recommitting to their beliefs, their church, and one another.  It’s a brilliant way of staying or or opting out that many long-standing systems could adopt and adapt.

A thin, blurry line stands between commitment and being locked-in.  We commit to things for many reasons, though I think the two greatest reasons are people and mission.  We find people who share similar core convictions or who bring us challenge and joy.  We find a cause that we believe and can invest in.  But what do you do when the people change?  What if the sense of mission, of direction, changes?  That’s when you look around, see different people and priorities, and find yourself locked-in.

What happens next is tricky.  Do you stay in hopes of waiting things out?  How do you summon the energy to do repetitive emotional labor?  Or do you bail, call it quits because the people and purposes around you have changed?  Is it possible to find and use a key that reverses the effects of being locked-in, or is that just a kind of whistling in the dark cell?