If forgiving is the only remedy for your painful past, promising is the only remedy for your uncertain future. … When I make a promise I bear witness that my future with you is not locked into … the fateful combinations of X’s and Y’s in the hand I was dealt out of my parents’ genetic deck. When I make a promise, I testify that I was not routed along some unalterable itinerary by the psychic conditioning visited on me by my slightly wacky parents. I am not fated. I am not determined. When I make a promise to anyone I rise above all the conditioning that limits me. … No German shepherd ever promised to be there with me. No home computer ever promised to be my loyal help. Only a person can make a promise, and when he does, he is most free.

— Lewis Smedes