A promise broken

We all make promises. We say we will do something, or not do something. Then we do not follow through. We break our promise. Could be as simple as not eating too much. Could be as big as not surfing the Internet to dark points of interest. In her memoirs, Madeleine L'Engle talks of her marriage and how both she and her husband have broken vows. I reflected on that today as I spent time with some people.

At first blush, I want to say, "No if you break the promise it is no longer a promise!" Then, as I think about it, I hope that is not true. I have broken the promise to love, to serve, to give and to go. The promise is not contingent on my ability to keep it. The promise is. If I break a promise a thousand times, it still is a promise. It may have been violated, but the promise still stands.

I think that maybe helpful to those of us in relationship. Promises will be broken, but they are still promises as long as the parties repent and return to them. Perfect promise keeping is a high standard.

The only promise not to be broken was the one the Blessed Trinity made. To create, to redeem, and to apply the work of redemption. Those promises are independent of us too, but in a different way. We have no part in them. We can not break them and He will keep them.

So today I am grateful for grace when a promise is broken, knowing that it still stands and I am grateful for the promises of God that will never be broken. Blessings