POT Blog: Power of Trust

POT Blog 5? Who’s counting?

Questions direct thinking. We often can’t find the right questions because we’re not well-informed or we’re purposely distracted. The purpose here is to bring to awareness the paramount importance of ‘trust’. Isn’t it amazing we walk around on the ground and rarely give ground it’s due?

Is ‘trust’ in short supply? Is the amount of trust declining and if so, what’s replacing it? Can its importance be measured? How much of our daily lives is facilitated because of trust and/or the lack of?

By a certain age we’ve all been stung by trusting the untrustworthy. Now, when we hear, “Trust me.” flags go up. Caution begins sounding its alarm, bellowing like those weather alerts of an approaching tornado. If you’re like me you may be remembering a specific individual and the feelings generated by their conniving. Having to fight the urge to become a tornado in their lives. If not careful, we can get to the point of not totally trusting those we want, should and need to.

The paramount importance of ‘Trust’ is clear in how Webster defines those who cannot be trusted; evil or wicked conduct or behavior, depravity or corruption. Evil or wicked conduct? Depraved or corrupted?

Know anyone genuinely sincere and yet have wrong beliefs that make for untrustworthiness? It does raise the question as to how often one should examine beliefs? We’ve the tendency to believe what makes us comfortable about ourselves. When those beliefs are challenged, held up to the light and found disturbingly inaccurate we’ve the tendency to feel we’re being attacked rather than the belief. Would you, can you trust someone who refuses to admit they’re wrong? Whatever the hanging-on-er of the apparent wrong says afterwards loses all impact.

Maybe the question of paramount importance, that brings us to the heart of the matter and the condition of the hearts of those who can’t be trusted and the condition of the hearts of those who can is; What is the relationship between ‘love’ and ‘trust’? Love is from the heart.

You don’t scam people you love, do you? You don’t love those you scam, do you?

What is love? Personally, I find it impossible to define. However, Webster out of necessity since ‘love’ is a word and it’s also of paramount importance gives it a shot; 1. a deep and tender feeling of affection for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons 2. a feeling of brotherhood and good will toward other people.

Pretty good, don’t you think? Deep and tender feelings for attachment (and I don’t think we need ‘or’ here but ‘and’) and devotion to a person or persons. (Hopefully persons, right?) And a feeling of brotherhood (same family regardless of genetics) and good will (really like that, good will) toward other people. In other words, if you love other people you don’t want harm coming to them.

What might be a summation of the relationship between ‘love’ and ‘trust’? The paramount importance of ‘trust’ is its power in connecting us to people who aren’t evil or wicked or depraved or corrupted is that trust not only serves in providing a path by which love flows from us to others and but is also the way by which love grows.

And if you’re at the point where others are saying they can’t trust you…that can be fixed. Trust God. He already loves you.