100% guarantee

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

*****

When making promises, plans, or projections I’d stay away from phrases that include such words as “never,” “always,” “forever,” “can’t,” “won’t,”, “will,” and “has to,” and I’d lean more towards words like…

“If possible,”

“Most likely,”

“Potentially,

“Hopefully,”

“On average,”

“As much as lies within my power,”

And especially…”Lord willing.”

The ONE THING for today: There is only one being in the entire universe who has the ability to give an unqualified 100% guarantee. For the rest of us, humility is required.

Photo by Suketu Solanki on Unsplash