Accountability

I was reading on the "Between Journey" blog today about how someone held Jeff accountable for the fact that he's been pushing the spiritual gifting seminars without giving anyone any info about it. Good for her! You go girl! That is really hard to do- on both ends. It got me thinking a bit about accountability- especially in this time where the economy is going willy nilly because of the supreme LACK of accountability...SEE PEOPLE?! When there is no accountability, things go willy nilly and sometimes, the consequences are dire and quite painful.

It's just so interesting to me. I feel like what God is having me "work on" in the past bit 'o' time is that whole accountability thing. Not only for myself (I try really hard to do what I say I will, I usually do, but sometimes...it's a bit later than I would like to) but...and this is the terribly hard part for me, for others. I feel like God is calling me to "speak up" and hold others accountable. To me, this is...terrifying. I can do it, but usually I wait until I feel backed up against a wall, and then I get all emotional- usually not about the issue at hand, but about the fact that I have to BRING IT UP...it is very, very stressful to me. Especially in dealing with someone who might be considered an authority figure. Seriously, it FREAKS ME OUT. I really believe in honoring authority- and have had some bad teaching taking that concept to the extreme, as in "honoring authority" means NEVER questioning it- even when leadership is running amuck. I am still unlearning this, and I think it contributes to the stress. But I am getting more and more convinced that a lack of accountability is wreaking havoc in our society. It's more obvious in the economical and political arenas, but it's pretty bad everywhere else too.
I am starting small. I told the children at the Northwest Church that I would hold them accountable for passing out invites to Trunk-or-Treat. I put it in plain terms. I told them,"I will come back and make sure you did what you said you would, because if you didn't, what does that mean?"
And they told me the truth. "It means we lied."
Yikes.