Promises generally come with good intentions, however, neither the promise or the intentions have the power to fulfill themselves unless resolve, endurance, diligence, aplomb, grit, and common sense pulls through. Human promises are inert without the Holy Spirit.

Promises fall out of our mouths as often as beepers beep when the truck backs-up, the microwave finishes, the car door sits ajar, and the timer goes off.

I’ll call, I promise.

I’ll pick up the room in a minute.

I’ll fix the leak.

This product is a cure-all…

But wait…let’s think about this for a minute.

No material product is a cure-all. And, the human mind talks before it thinks.

When a co-worker promises to do a job, the Holy Spirit let’s us stop and think and compare.

For example, a co-worker promises to get me information for a journalism project, but she has a young child at home that currently needs care plus other job responsibilities.

My children are grown and I can make the time to get the information myself.

No anger. No thinking I’m owed something. I get the information. May of taken longer then if she did it, but her child is taken care of and that’s more important.

Life goes better when I act on the truth that human promises are inert.

The Holy Spirit fulfills promises. Sometimes the Holy Spirit moves me to remind someone else to follow through on their promise. Sometimes the Holy Spirit moves me to finish out the promise. I try to listen to the Holy Spirit who tells me when to make a promise and when to be quiet, keep my good intentions to myself.