A Promise is a Promise is a Promise!!!

      This thought came to me as I was considering all the mountains of paperwork and agreements and signed papers we have to deal with nowadays for just about anything we do! I do understand the need for it because so many more people are involved in our lives than used to be and many we do not even know personally, like insurance companies, mortgage people, even lots of people that deal with our medical issues and such. But at the same time it makes me sad that no longer is a promise is a promise is a promise. What do I mean by that? 

     Well, how many people nowadays truly honor a promise they make to someone? In the old days a handshake and an agreement meant it would be taken care of; that they were commmitted to keep their ends of the agreement! There was no need for paperwork because everyone honored their word and could be trusted to do what they said they would do. How often does that happen nowadays? I know there are still some people who do their best to keep their promises and that we can have total confidence and faith in that they will. But like all things in this world, the good things like that are getting smaller and fewer and the opposite is growing by leaps and bounds.

     May I just add another thought that goes along with this, especially for those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We make "covenants" with our Heavenly Father at baptism and in our sacred and holy Temples! What is a covenant? It is a "sacred promise" between us and the Lord. And we can rest assured that He will always keep His part of those promises. And, if you think about it, He is putting a lot of trust in us to keep our part of those covenants. I am also very grateful that He is so loving and kind and patient, knowing that we are far from perfect, BUT at least if we keep trying to honor those covenants and keep our promises to Him, He understands and will help us as much as we will allow Him to. But again, it greatly saddens me, when so many are just too willing to give up and walk away from those covenants/promises that they made with Him, and that they made with the Lord's blessing, with others in the Holy Temples. I, personally, struggle to understand why anyone does not want to honor those special covenants/promises that are only going to bless lives with so many more blessings, helps, strengths, and opportunities. I am not saying that it is always an easy thing, especially with all the wickedness, struggles, and even personal tests going on around us today, but it will be so worth it in the long run.

     May I just end by adding a bit of my personal testimony here. I am far from perfect and I know I have many weaknesses to overcome and a long ways to go to become the person I was set apart to be before I came to this earth. But there is one thing that has been a truth in my life for as long as I can remember and that is that my greatest desire is to be worthy to return to my Heavenly Father and that entails keeping my convenants and promises that I have made with Him. And in order to do that I need to live an honorable life  in honoring promises that I make with other people as well. And, again, not always easy! Many times it is very very difficult, BUT the Lord, in one way or another,  will bless every effort we make to honor our covenants with Him and our promises to others!!