Let’s look at the word promise as a verb, an action word: To promise is to tell someone that you will definitely do something or that something will definitely happen in the future.
Probably the greatest promise we give as human beings is to our children. We promise to love them and take care of them. This understanding between parent and child is two-sided. They are ours, and we are theirs. It is a covenant. A promise.
What about God’s promise to us? Well, here it is:
A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. — Ezekial 36: 26-28
God has promised to be with us no matter what we face. And God has promised us eternal life with Him. But our covenant with Him, our promise, is also two-sided. Our relationship with God is a very personal one, as personal as the relationship we have with our spouse or our children. Are we holding up our end?
Maybe we’ve tripped, or swerved off the road we intended to travel. Or maybe we’ve forgotten our promise to God that we will try to live a good life, a life of love. Of course, we only have to recommit! That’s all. God is always there, waiting for our turnaround. We have a place, our own very special place, in His Sacred Heart.
Translating a World on the Edge 