I recently went to the park with my cousin and her two small daughters. I can't tell you how many

times I heard them say, one more time, Maggie, or this is the last time I promise. Of course, I knew

it wasn't the last time, and I knew that one more time would turn into ten more times. In fact,

this exchange with my tiny playmates made me laugh. If you've ever coached, especially cheer or dance, you know when you hear the words,

last time, it's the biggest lie you've ever heard.

I say it and my dancers roll their eyes, knowing good and well, this is most definitely not the

last time.

They know they'll likely do this dance about ten more times, and that got me thinking,

how many times have the words, this is the last time, been spoken without sincerity?

I called my husband for the third time while he's at work to ask him a question while I'm at

Lowe's, but I promise him that this is the last time, but it isn't.

As you're handing back papers in your classroom, you hand little Johnny's paperback with no name on the top yet again.

He promises this is the last time.

It isn't.

A drunk husband comes home, he yells, screams, and throws things at you in front of your two small kids.

When he sobers up, he says that it's the last time, and it isn't. It seems we all make these promises, what Mary Poppins would call a pie crust promise, because it's easily made and easily broken. Some of those promises have little effect of broken. My husband knows I'll be calling him back at least one more time to make sure I'm getting what he needs to complete a project.

You know Johnny won't ever remember to put his name on his paper.

But nothing bad happens because I didn't keep my word and made the dance team do their dance a few more times.

Nothing bad happened when Johnny forgot to put his name on the paper again.

But sometimes we make those promises without thinking.

We don't stop and ask ourselves if it really is the last time. If it isn't, could something bad happen? If the drunk

husband comes home and continues to scream and throw things at you, who's to say it couldn't escalate?

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