I Promise

I promise.

Powerful words that are a form of contract or covenant between people.

We say it all the time, often without really thinking about what the message conveyed in those two simple words may really mean to the ears and, more importantly, the heart of the person to whom they are said.

Whether the promise is to a group or to a single soul, in every heart it is a one by one commitment.

"I promise we will get ice cream."

"I promise to love, honor, cherish and obey."

"I promise that I will always be here for you."

"I promise that I'm telling the truth."

"I promise it won't hurt a bit."

"I promise."


What is the intent in the words? To have a quick answer to a child who is asking for our time and instead we placate them with a promise of something later when later may never come?

To tell a loved one that we are honest and true and will be faithful and devoted only to discover our own very mortal, very flawed, very broken feet of clay when they need us most?

"I promise."

God has an interesting promise with us. And His part of that bargain, that contract, that covenant is always binding... on His end.

We vacillate, we shuffle our feet, we hedge, we struggle, and we fail. God forgives us, even when we have trouble finding in our heart to forgive ourselves.

God never makes a promise that He forgets about or omits keeping. Some covenants and promises are made contingent on our performance. Others are made simply out of God's love for us.

"I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

"I am constant."

"I love you."

Those don't move. They don't change.

It's not like us mere mortals. We alter our promises to suit our selfish circumstances. We change the meaning and intent of our words, much like a national leader who excused his promise breaking by saying "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is".

Promises made are words. Promises kept reveal who we are as individuals more than those mere words convey. But promises broken reveal so much more of our intent and our meaning as we interact with each other.

To break our word is to show ourselves broken.

It is not any longer about those persons to whom we have brokered our souls in a pledge, but rather it is about the honor and grace that may or may not reside within US as we utter words with no real intent to keep unless it serves our own selfish purposes.

Brokenness revealed is truly a sorrow. Because many people are perfectly content to live in brokenness and have NO desire to be healed. They have become comfortable and resistant to change because it discomfits them. People are like that. All people. Me, too.

Fixing a rent is hard. It hurts sometimes to say "I promised when I shouldn't have" or "I made a vow that I cannot keep" or "I said it but I never really meant it".

Honesty in our promises is the only way a relationship works - between mere mortals and between those same mortals and God.

I promise.