Dove Chocolate Inspiration

The message in my piece of Dove chocolate was “Keep the promises you make to yourself.”  Usually, the messages that come in Chinese fortune cookies or Dove chocolate wrappers seem trite or so obvious they hardly need to be repeated on a slip of paper. This message, however, made me stop and think.  I began asking myself some questions.  “What promises do I make to myself?  Why do I make those promises?  How good am I at keeping them?  What is the relation between the promises I make to myself and the promises I make about myself to God?  When I fail to keep the promises what happens in my heart, my mind, my emotions, my soul?  What excuses do I make to myself to give myself permission to break the promises? How do I determine which promises to keep and which ones to ignore?” 

The questions made me aware of how often I actually do make promises to myself.  “I am going to eat less carbohydrates.  I am going to pray more.  I am going to stop allowing others to diminish me.  I am going to live a healthier lifestyle.  I am going to love.  I am going to spend less money.  I am going to stop judging others.  I am going to live more simply.” 

Perhaps, part of the reason I break the promises to myself is simply because I make too many.  It might be better to make fewer promises—more important promises—and make myself accountable to those until they have become regular patterns in my life.  What is abundantly clear to me is that if I make so many promises to myself that I cannot keep any of them, I will continually find my soul feeling as empty and inadequate as a bone dry arroyo in the middle of a desert summer. But, if I can make two or three promises and give attention to keeping those, I will find wildflowers springing up in the desert of my soul.

What are the promises you are making to yourself and how are you keeping them?