Just about everyone has come to that stage in which they have met their match and have come up short, and thereby in their desperation or of the hope that the door is not completely close, they turn to God, or perhaps to their parents, or even to their self, and make a solemn promise that if this cup would only pass from them, that they would make amends for what they did wrong, or to make good on an event that transpired that was deeply regretted. Indeed, even the most prideful will find themselves at that point on their knees, in abject supplication, and in apparent sincerity, to ask forgiveness, to make amends, and finally to make that promise that they will reform and make good on that promise, come what may.
In life, we find that words and intentions are not the same thing as actual deeds, and that therefore promises made are not always going to be promises kept, because quite frankly, not every promise is an easy task, and because a given promise, has its challenges, along with its commitments to what needs to be done, it is not therefore a simple or even straightforward task to get accomplished. So too, there are many a person that makes promises wily-nilly without any real intention of keeping such, though occasionally they do, and the reason that they don’t keep their promises is that they didn’t really have an intention to do so, but merely mouth the words that they believe will make that trouble to pass, and thereby get on with their lives, without any real concern that they have violated their promise, whole cloth.
Then there are those others who really do intend to make good on their promise, but because of their addiction, or their lack of determination, or their ingrained weakness, they find that they can’t seem to make good on that promise, even though they give it a good try. For these people, it is doubly disappointing to know that they have broken their vow, along with having slipped right back into the sinning or back into their character faults, which have caused them so much pain and trouble, and thereby continue to hurt them, and when they duly reflect upon this, they feel immense sorrow and disappointment.
Finally, there are those who, at the time of their pleading, were absolutely sincere that they would make good on their promise, and had duly sworn to do so, and in that moment, their words and intentions were true. However, time has a habit of eroding even the best of intentions when the temptation to go back to what we are familiar with still exists and is available for us to rejoin, as well as the fact that we take comfort in doing what we have been habitually doing, even though we know that it is wrong. These then are the most troubled souls, because when the chips were down, they pleaded and begged, and promised reformation, but subsequently did not reform, signifying that the path they are back on is the same one that is going nowhere and will not ever redeem them.