Quite often, I find myself trusting

Why is “Trust” such an important thing in life? A lot comes to mind when we think about it. Maybe it reminds you of someone or something, either in a good or bad way. You have to agree that it’s important. We don’t actually learn it. We are born with it. We cannot exhaust all the dynamics of trust, but I just have a few thoughts put on paper. Let’s reason together. Who taught you to trust? You've trusted and still trust mom or dad since infancy. Kids trust mommy. They trust daddy too, well, most of the times. Mommies are more trusted, and really we can’t blame the kids. It’s a fact that they tend to warm up to the feminine side more easily. But that’s a story for another day. They trust that mommy loves them enough to do anything to make sure that their world is a happy place. They view life as one big roller-coaster ride. No worries. They trust. They trust that after a hard days work (Read PLAY, but they’ll make you believe they worked), mommy will make sure that they get dinner. I call it work since from my personal experience, a conversation in the evening with my daughter goes something like this

Daddy: How are you?

Pati: fine

Daddy: “how was your day?”

Pati: fine

Daddy: What did you do?

Pati: I read, I watched my brother, and I molded.

This is the most recent one. She will hardly tell me that she played, though I know it makes up 95% of her activities.

Two nights ago I was “trusted” with the noble responsibility of buying her chocolate. Twice she asked me for it. I’m yet to buy but I have to, if I want to still be trusted. I’m not implying that we become genies to our kids by granting their every wish, but I love it when she asks me for something because that spells one word for me: TRUST.

So, we grow and we advance in age, doubt creeps in. Why is that the case? Well, of course the world turns out not to be that safe haven that our homes have been. I trust that most homes are safe havens, again, thanks to mommies. The reality of “the fall” dawns on us, and we begin to realize how rotten a world we live in. But still, we have to trust.

Trust is a significantly essential task that we engage in everyday. You trust that when you sleep at night, you’ll wake up the following morning. When you wake up you trust that you’ll get ready on time and be on schedule.When you get into the bus/matatu, you trust that the driver knows how to drive, and that his license is valid, and that the vehicle is capable of taking you from your home to the workplace without falling apart into pieces on the way. You never ask the driver how much fuel he has. God forbid, if he had a quarrel with the wife, has had it with life and so has decided to veer off the road when he approaches that bridge over Athi River. You simply trust him. You trust that you’ll get to work on time and find that your boss hasn’t woken up in a bad mood and decided to reduce the work force by half. You trust that at the end of the month when you cash the cheque that it won’t bounce.

Our trust either is developed from our own experiences or from the experiences of others.

When you drank your first coke soda, it wasn’t from your own experience, rather someone else’s. That goes for so many of the things that we trust. We sometimes know for a fact that our object of trust is trustworthy, or simply take the risk.

The hardest part of trust comes when we involve relationships. The simple reason being the fact that when we are relating, we’re revealing. We are revealing ourselves to another. What was safe with us is not anymore; we share. Our weaknesses are exposed. Our secrets sometimes are revealed. Yet, we have to trust the other person. It’s undeniably difficult to explain the need to trust others, but I guess it’s said that no man is an island. So really, does that leave me any choice? Given a choice won’t it be easier to just be on our own? God thought so too, until He saw Adam’s loneliness.

Life, really, is a journey full of hope and so we trust. We trust that tomorrow will come. We trust that things will get better. We trust that after the darkest night, dawn will break forth. We live a life of trust whether subconsciously or completely aware of that fact. We cannot do without trusting. So then here is what I have learnt; when I trust others, I expect them to never betray that trust. It’s the same case for me. I have a responsibility to never betray the trust that others have in me. When trust is broken, it can become irreparable. Why take the risk?

Finally brethren,

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths {Proverbs 3:5,6}