I promise...

Have you ever stopped to think about the power in those two words? When my sons were little boys I found I sometimes ended an announcement with the words , "I promise". It amazes me that at the tender ages of 5 and 3 they would hang on to that promise and be ready to repeat my words when the event did not occur. "But Mom, you promised", they would whine . It got to the point where I would dance around those two words , making sure to leave them out. I would replace them with phrases such as, "I'll try", "If it works out..." , or "Hopefully". That gave me an insurance in case the event did not work out, I could always say " I didn't promise".

When did we loose faith in those words? Was it then, at 3 or 5 when our mom's stopped saying them that we decided there are no real promises? The picture is of my grandparents Promise Box. It sat on their dining room table everyday of my childhood. It was the first thing I asked for after their passing. As a child, I would see my grandad take one out of the box and they would both read the promise and the quote on the other side, and then they prayed. They never lost faith in promises. Maybe, no, certainly it was because these promises were all from scripture. They were all words of God, spoken to reassure us that His promises are real and can be counted on. Always.

I pray that over the years my sons have been able to discern the difference between the promises that we make, which sometimes do not come to be, and the promises from God , which have proven true every time.

He promises.