Wise words words that we could do with heeding…….
“Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them. They need them again and again when they become uncertain and disheartened because, living by their own resources, they cannot help themselves without cheating themselves out of the truth. They need other Christians as bearers and proclaimers of the divine word of salvation”
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Hope can be an odd thing. It comes and goes with the wind and can be so transient as to be unbearable. A great example of this (for sports fans) is the current English Premiership campaign – last week, Liverpool were the favourites and there was a huge amount of hope that a 24 year barren spell was at an end. One bad result and another team could now take the title on goal difference……for many hope evaporated. However, there is still a great chance that Liverpool could win – still games to be played and results required for all teams. However, the news and reporters have transferred all their hope to another. Fickle, transient and denying what is possible.
It is the same with life. The smallest of margins can evaporate or sustain hope and we can be like the wind blowing in different directions with all the challenges and changes that come our way. How much easier life would be if our hope could be certain, if it was guaranteed.
In truth, it comes down to what we have faith in, to those things that will sustain us – we discover very quickly in life who and what can be trusted. Trust in those things that will bring hope, peace and happiness. Then and only then will the flickers of hope become a flood.
For Christians, the issues of forgiveness and trust are some of the heavyweight battlegrounds in terms of Church relationships. I have been personally working through some of these issues for a few months and, in truth, been beating myself over the head about my lack of forgiveness in a particular relationship. It has been more than a thorn in the flesh, more a millstone around the neck. When people have spoken with me, the weight of the millstone has increased and rather than helping, my anger with myself has increased leaving me feeling worthless and useless…..well, it did, until that eureka moment struck. I had forgiven, the issue was not forgiveness but trust.
I have to stop beating myself over the head for lacking forgiveness, rather find a way in which you can learn to trust again. What a difference, personally!
The difficult part is the understanding of others who have interpreted behaviours differently (albeit understandably) and have levelled accusation that I now realise were unfair and have ‘hamstrung’ me in my faith. Recognising the real issue has been a breakthrough and hopefully the future can be a little brighter now. The journey is certainly a different one, learning to trust again is certainly a longer road to travel, yet the destination will be joyful.
“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”
Alfred Adler
‘Trust is the willingness to accept vulnerability, based upon positive expectations about someone else’s behaviour”
Jennifer Dunn and Maurice Schweitzer
“We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.”
Alison Croggon
“It takes a strong person to say sorry, and an ever stronger person to forgive.”
Unknown
Is it possible for a team to function when there is an absence of trust?
The truth is……unlikely! There may be opportunities for basic functionality but for any team to progress to its full potential, team members need to be able to trust one another. When things are running well and smoothly, the cracks can be hidden but as soon as difficulties or problems surface the inability of team members to trust one another will hold back the team.
Trust can be learned, mastered and developed….work on it – if not you will suffer in the mire known as the absence of trust.
One of my favourite TV shows is Hustle, sadly ended but a wonderful show. The concept of the show demonstrated that people who are greedy can be ‘hustled’ into parting with their cash if they feel they can have more. The gang would build a ‘facade of trust’ and through this the con could be completed.
I have been pondering how people often ‘hustle’ their way through life by building a facade of trust, yet fail to deliver. They draw people in, use them for their own ends and then spit them out. Harsh? Maybe, but by raising the question, I am convinced that a number of readers are now thinking through their contacts and labelling someone to watch out for.
Be careful, the Con is On!
A bag with a laptop and expensive pair of headphones is on the floor next to a table in a busy coffee shop, no-one around seems to be aware of it, what do you do? Guard it whilst you have a drink and see if anyone comes for it, then claim it as your own? Hand it in, leaving it to the store owner to make the right call? Claim it for yourself and walk away? There are plenty of options but what will you do?
If it was your bag that had been forgotten, you would hope that someone would do the right thing so that it could be reclaimed. You have to make a snap decision, no time to think? Quick, what would you do?
Your answer will indicate something about you? I trust that you are not disappointed.
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