Promises, Promises

I shared with you on January 6th, in my blog post More Goal Than Resolution, that I intend to become a bread baker in 2012. I also mentioned that learning to bake bread is one of two goals I have for this year.


The second goal is all about promises!


When the girls were little, they often wanted their Dad, the Husband, and me to make promises to them.

They wanted us to promise it would always be okay to play dress up.

Absolutely! An easy promise.


They wanted us to promise that we would always love them.

With our whole hearts! That promise had been made before they were born.


Promises like these were easy to make. Others, not so much!


The girls wanted the Husband and I to promise we would never die and leave them.

Wow! That was a promise we so wanted to make. It was also a promise we knew we could not make. We knew we could not promise the girls the number of our days. It simply is not fully in our control.


Frankly, there were times we couldn't even promise them what the afternoon would hold.


Sometimes we would be out running errands on the weekend and the girls would ask if they could play with the neighbors when we got home. We learned very quickly that it was a mistake to yes because if when we got home, playing with friends didn't work out, they would be upset and say, "But you said we could! You promised." There was no amount of explaining that could resolve for them that we had said they could do what they were not getting to do!


Promises can be a very tricky thing! There is so much in life that we cannot control, that promises can be broken even though we do not intend to break them. We need to be very careful when we make a promise, and there are some promises we simply cannot make.


Everyone of us wants to be able to count on a promise!


Everyone of us wants someone who will make promises to us and keep them!


This Christmas, before anyone opened any other gift, my parents had each of us choose a small scroll of paper tied with ribbon from a basket. On each scroll of paper was written a promise. They weren't promises from my parents. They were far better, which my parents knew. They were promises from God. Promises found in the Bible.


In turn we read out loud the promises.

Isaiah 25:8  He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears off all faces.

Psalm 103:17  But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.


The promises on those little scrolls of paper, promises that came directly from God's word, were precious reminders that God who loves us, the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, is the only one we can count on with certainty to make promises and keep them.


God's promises are hope!


God's promises are comfort!


God's promises are for all who believe!


So this is my second goal for 2012; to seek out God's promises in scripture, to write them on my heart, to hold on to them, for they will sustain me!


Christine