It’s the Unkept Promises that Cause Children’s Hearts to Hurt

I can still hear my father over the phone, making promises to come and spend time with my sister and me. He had a lovely baritone voice, and when he laughed, his whole body seemed to shake with mirth. I adored him, even though I probably only spent ten days of my entire childhood with him. Of course, he never came when he said he would, but each time he promised, I waited on the front porch, searching every man’s face who passed by, hoping that “this time” he would actually come.

My first memory is of him laughing as my sister and I jumped on a bed in an apartment. My mother worked, so Daddy babysat us. Suddenly, there was a loud knocking at the door. It was the sheriff evicting us because he failed to pay the rent with the money Mama supplied. I remember watching him as he walked away down the street, leaving my sister and me sitting on top of the furniture. A neighbor eventually came and took us into her home until my mother came home to take us to a temporary place to live.

The last memory I have of him was going to the hospital to sign him out, as I was his legal next of kin. The irony never left me that I had to buy his medicine and find him a home, because the woman he lived with was afraid of people with cancer. His sister finally agreed to take him in because I lived and worked too far away to take him home with me. He died a few months later, without me seeing him again. I learned that he accepted Jesus just before he died. But that knowledge didn’t heal the hurt of so many broken promises, but I forgive him.

Keep promises to children. Broken promises steal children’s joy, hurt their hearts, and make them feel they have no value and worth.

Written for Writing Prompts from Esther Chilton. This week’s prompt is Promises.

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