Grace, a fifth grader graduating from elementary school to middle school, was surprised by something special that happened during the end of the school year ceremony.
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Soldier keeps promise, surprises daughter at 5th grade graduation
Rachel’s dad was stationed overseas for his military job. A year earlier, he promised Rachel that he would be there for her graduation. Still, Rachel looked surprised to see him there.
- Why do you think Rachel was surprised? (Answers will vary; since he was not there before the ceremony, she may have assumed he was not allowed the leave time; she may have thought he forgot the promise; she may have given up hope on the promise being fulfilled; sometimes orders get changed in the military and you have no control over it.)
- How do you think Rachel would have felt if her father had not kept the promise? (Answers will vary but may include: let down, hurt, disappointed, angry, depressed, unable to trust her dad’s word, might have been used to military changing plans, etc.)
People are good at promise making, but are not always as good about promise keeping. We make some promises with serious intent to fulfill them. Sadly, other promises are made without much thought about how we will actually fulfill them. Some people cross their fingers when they make a promise and claim that means they do not have to keep the promise. Others are unable to keep a promise due to circumstances out of their control, even though they intended to stay true to their word.
- What promises have you made and kept? (Answers will vary.)
- What are some promises that people made to you? Was the promise kept? (Answers will vary.)
- When someone broke a promise to you, what do you think when that person makes you another promise? (Answers may include: don’t believe them; the person will not keep this promise either; I will need to remind the person to keep this promise; this person doesn’t really care about me, etc.)
- When someone has kept a promise to you, what do you think when that person makes you another promise? (I can trust this person; this person cares about me.)
Abraham counted on a promise made to him. Then he was asked to do something that seemed to contradict the fulfillment of that promise. Still, he trusted his Promise Giver to be a Promise Keeper. Let’s find out what happened.
