To keep another’s word
is to listen and respond to it faithfully;
to be faithful to the one who gave my heart a word to keep.
When I keep a word entrusted to my heart,
there is joy for me and for the one who trusts me…
When I fail in keeping another’s word
I weaken the spirit of the sharing
and damage the bond we had created…
When you keep someone’s word in your heart
(and certainly when you keep the Lord’s word
in your heart)
you don’t know how or when it will call on you,
what it will ask of you, where it will lead you
or how it will change you…
Hearts that keep the word of others,
(hearts that keep the Lord’s word)
are hearts doing what hearts were made to do…
Such are the hearts we all seek
for the safekeeping of a word we want to share,
a word we hope another will keep for us…
