Keeping His Word

“Who may live close to God? The one who keeps his promise even when it costs him.” — from Psalm 15

While Jack was in hospital in London, he wrote to his father and asked him to come. His father was nervous and sad and very set in his ways, and he did not come. But Mrs Moore came straight away. She visited Jack, wrote to him and looked after him.

When the war ended, Jack went back to Oxford, and Mrs Moore and Maureen came too. Jack kept his promise to Paddy. He made his home with them, and he went on looking after Mrs Moore for more than thirty years. In letters he sometimes called her his mother, and he had a funny nickname for her: Minto.

They did not have much money, and they moved from one cold set of rooms to another. Jack did the shopping, washed the dishes, ran errands, walked the dog and helped Maureen with her Latin. Then he studied whenever he could find a quiet hour.

There was one thing Jack did that was wrong. He did not tell his father the truth about where he was living, or that some of the money his father sent was helping the Moores. He kept it hidden for years. Later, when Jack came to know God, he was very sorry for it. He said it was one of the worst things he had ever done.

Jack worked very hard at his studies. Three times he won the very top marks in his exams. In 1925 he became a teacher of English at Magdalen College in Oxford. It was a beautiful old college with a park full of deer. His father was overjoyed.

Jack kept his promise for more than thirty years, even when it was not easy. But he also learned that hiding the truth hurts people. God wants us to be faithful and to be honest. And when we get it wrong, we can tell God we are sorry.

Dear God, help me to keep my promises and to tell the truth. When I get things wrong, help me to say sorry. Amen.