Promises, Promises

"We promise a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage," Presidential campaign 1928.

"Mrs. Walczak, I promise to do all of my homework this quarter," A well-intentioned student.

"I can't promise I'll try, but I'll try to try," Bart Simpson.

Promises, promises.

Promises are only as good as the Promise Maker.

This weekend our family celebrated promises made and promises kept. 

The scene was Charleston, South Carolina, where the War Between the States began, and the North launched a campaign, promising freedom to African American slaves. Promise kept.

I think I would concur with the Marquis de Lafayette, "Charleston is one of the best built, handsomest, and most agreeable cities I have ever seen." A great place for exchanging wedding promises.

Michael and Shayna, July 21, 2019

Our entire clan gathered in Charleston to witness the exchanging of promises between my sister's daughter, Shayna, and her fiance, Michael. The four day action-packed destination wedding included a cruise of Charleston Harbor, yoga on the waterfront, golf, plantation tours, horse and buggy carriage rides, seafood dinners, time at Folly Beach, and a city-wide scavenger hunt when we searched out things like joggling boards and other wedding parties. (I did it all with the six grandkids, and I'm still recovering!)

Charleston ranks second to Las Vegas as destination wedding capital of the US. Who knew? Our hotel, the Belmond, and the city certainly know how to welcome brides, grooms, and their families.

The whirlwind ended on Sunday evening at the Rice Mill. We took our seats on the lenai in the southern heat beside a salt water marsh and oohed and aahed over our red-haired beauty, dressed in lace. The bridesmaid brunch, the late night parties, the packing and moving the family over 700 miles, everything built to a crescendo that night ... the exchanging of promises.

You've been to enough weddings. You know the promises:

 I promise to cherish and keep you ... 

•  when things are great for us and even when the kids are a handful, the house is falling apart, or I lose my job. 
• when we have a comfortable bank account, and we can pay our bills, and when we have nothing but the roof over our heads and a beat-up car. 
•  if you are healthy or if you break your leg or have cancer, and I must care for you daily.
•  when I don't like you sometimes because you have a few annoying habits. 
• as my dearest relationship on earth until we are parted by death. 
• And this is my solemn promise.

Last weekend Shayna and Michael made those promises to each other although not in quite those words. We all witnessed it. Promises are only as good as the Promise Makers, and Shay and Mike have the right stuff for promise keeping: strong moral fiber, impeccable character, and commitment to each other's well-being. They will work hard to keep their promises, no matter what life brings their way. So their journey begins.

But as an observer of the wedding guests, my joy didn't settle only on the two Promise Makers in front of the audience. Among the sons, sisters, brothers, and cousins in attendance, I saw a bevy of strong marriages, all cultivated by commitment to promises. Several couples had faced cancer and heart attacks. Some battled job and financial issues. Many either had run the gauntlet of parenthood or were deep in it. Some had second chances. Among the older guests were years of faithfulness. There was wedding happiness for the newlyweds, but abundant joy for those who had proven it could be done through the tests and trials of life. Promises can be kept.

The tone of the wedding? HOPEFUL.

Our "Me" culture leaves little room for keeping promises if those promises run counter to personal satisfaction and self-concern. Questions of integrity and character are moot in the face of "Do what makes you happy," despite the consequences to those around us, despite the promises we've made. The Almighty "I" becomes the key to decision-making. 

A key question facing individuals today is, "Are we willing to keep our promises?"

Our Charleston wedding, filled with promise keepers, was refreshing, hopeful. The future of our society is planted in the bedrock of such commitment and cultivated by mutual respect and integrity. It's a relationship choice that will make or break our characters, our families, our world.

Thankfully, we've been set a powerful example in our Promise-Keeping God who is faithful. He makes us a plethora of promises and always does what He says. Walking life with Him exudes confidence and strength because we know the One who has our backs will never turn His back on us.

"The Lord is trustworthy in all He promises and faithful in all He does." Psalm 145:13

Rhett Butler said of Charleston in Gone with the Wind, "I'm going back to dignity and grace. I'm going back to Charleston where I belong." 

And we long to go back to a world of dignity and grace ... where promises are kept. Thank you, Shayna and Michael, for a spectacular wedding weekend and for the reminder of hope and joy in promises kept.