Promises are a big deal. When we break them, bad things happen to our relationships. People feel like they can’t trust us anymore. On the other hand, when we keep promises, good things happen! In fact, keeping a promise might even save a life.
- What are some examples of promises that could save a life? (Accept all reasonable responses.)
A growing number of teens are taking a “safe driving pledge” and committing not to do dangerous things while driving, such as using their cellphones. The Impact Teen Drivers website offers an online pledge that teens can sign online. Let’s see what the pledge says.
Read the following pledge aloud for your students:
“For my future—for life’s big dreams and little comforts, I hereby make a conscious commitment to safe driving.
For my friends, my family, and anyone else who may have fond feelings toward me, I pledge not to drive distracted or recklessly.
For every person I may never meet, but share the road with, I pledge to give driving the 100% attention it deserves.
I COMMIT not to text, eat, or do anything that causes me to take my hands off the wheel or my eyes off the road.
I COMMIT to wearing a seatbelt and making sure everyone in the car does the same.
I COMMIT to speaking up to a driver who is driving unsafely.
I COMMIT to SAFE DRIVING, to THE LAW, and to MY LIFE.”
In signing this pledge, teens are promising to be as safe as they can while driving, obeying the law and showing respect both for their lives and the lives of others.
- What is the result of keeping the promise from this pledge? (Staying safe in the car, being more protected in accidents, etc.)
- While it will be a few years before all of you are driving, what are some common promises that middle schoolers make to other people? (Make sure your students understand that by a “promise,” you mean any time one person makes a commitment to someone else. It doesn’t necessarily involve using the word “promise.”)
- Let’s take a closer look at one of the promises that we just discussed. What will happen if that promise is kept? What if it’s broken? (Help students identify potential positive and negative consequences of several of the promises that the class brainstormed in the previous question.)
Besides safety issues like wearing your seatbelt, there are few promises that are a matter of life and death. But keeping promises will always strengthen your relationships by building trust. Breaking promises will always damage your relationships by destroying trust.
The Bible shows us a vivid example of what happens when promises get broken. Let’s read a story about two men named Jacob and Laban.
