Trust

Verse of the day: “Listen to me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of Israel, both those taken from the womb and those instructed in childhood, even to your old age I Am. And even to your Gray Hairs I Am. I bear you and will forgive you. I will take you up and I will save you.” Isaiah 46:3-4

Tonight I want to talk about trust. Trust is something that I myself struggle with. Like everyone born into a decent and loving home I used to trust all but unconditionally, there was no reason not to trust God or those around me. Then as happens in a fallen world such as ours, that pure, childlike virtue was worn down in me by heartache, strife, and disappointment to the point where it almost didn’t exist. Since my relationship with God grew from “because Mommy said so” into the more mature, chosen faith of an adult, rebuilding that trust has been a work in progress.

I’ve gotten to a place where I trust God for the most part, with occasional moments of doubt or anger, but the people around me? It depends on who it is.

There are people that I am forced to associate with either because I’m related to them or because I have friends who are, who’s actions, comments, and attitudes can create numerous problems, be it the family who constantly breaks promises or makes last minute plans when they knew my friend (their relative and I) already had plans which are then subsequently changed, postponed, or cancelled almost without warning… or the relatives of mine who try to convince me that I’m going to hell.

For a while I tried to take what I thought was the Christ-like road, the high road, and be the person who gives everyone infinite second chances not to do whatever they do that frustrates me… and then after about the hundredth time or so that, that plan didn’t work; I became cynical and decided that they were incapable of that kind of positive change.

Now, I know that my cynicism was neither healthy nor Christ-like, but I just…didn’t want to get burned again, and I thought that the only way not to, was to lower my expectations, stop expecting people to do any better the next time.

The truth is though, that while yes, these people and others like them are frustrating and annoying…they weren’t the only ones in need of an attitude adjustment. Just because I was upset with them about the kinds of things they said and did, didn’t mean that I had to sink to their level and react in anger and malice and impatience.

What I realized (today actually) that I REALLY needed to do, was to give them and the situations we get into where they get on my nerves, over to the only one who CAN change them. God. They don’t need a lecture or a cold shoulder from me, they need a change of heart straight from Him, and so do I…along pretty much everyone else. I realized that my trust in God was still limited, that I trusted Him with the situations that gave me trouble but not with people.

With people who upset on, perhaps on a regular basis the best thing we can do, is continue to show them the love of Christ despite their failings and ours and then give them over in prayer to the only one who really can help them change. By trusting God with the people in our lives and well as the situations we are freed from a lot of negativity that often holds us back in our faith, whether it keeps us from sensing and responding to the Holy Ghost or just being kind to those around us, and that by extension frees us to come closer to God.