"True Confessions"

True Confession time ...let me start today with a true story, one that actually happened!

I am an introvert and I hate being front and center especially when I have no control over what happens. So just imagine how I felt one wintry Friday a few years ago when I was asked if I would take part in the sermon the following Sunday! It would be simple, I was assured. And after all I would have 48 hours to mull over my answers to the three questions! The scariest part was the thought "What if in the process of the dialogue, I get asked a different question, one I haven't previously thought out my answer for?” I made a conscious decision to trust, to trust that even if a new question was asked, the necessary support would be there for me. And so I was able to move out of my comfort zone...

So what is trust?

The Oxford dictionary definition of ‘trust’ is the ‘firm belief in the reliability, truth or ability of someone or something’.

Most of us were raised in a culture that taught us to trust the reliability, truth, or ability of authority figures in the government and institutions. But we all have been let down by them countless times. So who do we trust?

Sometimes it is easier to say what something isn't rather than what it is! And trust can be one of those things. Trust isn't comfortable. Trust isn't safe. Trust isn't always where you want to go. Trust doesn't always end up where you want it to. In a word, when you trust, the one thing that is a constant is that you have given up control - of the outcome, of the personal cost, of anything - and that can be scary! And so you rightly want to be very careful just where you place that trust.

Trust cannot be taken from us, but must be freely given. Once given, if it is broken, it takes a long time to repair.To make the statement that we trust in anyone or anything is to say that we willingly give all, not just some, control over to them.

As in the story above, trust is not something that you either have or you don't, but rather is something that is built up over time and experience, My question to you this week would be ‘Who or what do you trust in your life?’

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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