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Aug 30, 2021

 

Trust – such a small word and yet it carries great weight and depth. I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept lately and the many factors that both affect and are affected by it. Here on the drove, we currently have two animals that have required us to learn to earn their trust. Louise, our donkey, and Jack, our pony, have both obviously had prior experiences that stripped them of their ability to trust interactions with humans. Neither of them is mean spirited and both very clearly want attention, but they are skittish and afraid; unsure of whether that attention can be trusted. Jack has been in the care of a skilled horsewoman who in three months has helped us teach him that we can be trusted to take care of him and treat him with love and affection, but she recently pointed out that even still each day begins with slight hesitation and a bit of fear that can be seen in the flickering of his body until he is reassured that the interaction will be consistently positive and not harmful. When it comes to Louise, we (mostly dad) have spent months just spending time with her until she feels comfortable enough to not flinch and run away when we approach her. She is now to the point where she will eat out of your hand but is still unsure about touch and while she is coming along, she still tends to go into flight mode if you try to pet her anywhere other than on her forehead or muzzle.

 

 It frequently strikes me that there is a true parallel between our four footed and two footed friends. We all have a natural tendency toward flight or fight when we find ourselves in situations that are threatening and, for those who have experienced trauma, those natural tendencies all too often take over the brain and become routine responses to any situation that may simply be perceived as posing a possible threat, whether that perception is reality or not. Why? because trust has been broken and the heart has become guarded out of self-preservation. I recognize that this is perhaps leaning to the more extreme side of distrust, and I most often find myself thinking of those whom I love or have loved who are or have been in bondage to deeply seeded mistrust; however, there are so many ways in which we are all affected by broken trust in one form or another and sometimes wonder if the smaller, less conspicuous brands aren’t just as damaging if not more so in some ways. After all, we know our adversary is cunning and what better way to keep us in darkness than to slowly infiltrate our thinking in ways that are barely noticeable? I’m sure if you stop to ponder, you could probably come up with several examples of people, entities, or circumstances that you feel do not warrant your trust: some big and some not so big.

 

So what? Am I saying we should just be trusting of any and all? By no means, in fact the Bible tells us to “guard our hearts” (Proverbs 4:23), but it also tells us to “be as wise as serpents, yet as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Which in my mind is tricky, because often it is a tall task to be discerning and wise while still maintaining a heart that does not become callous or mistrusting of intent. The line is fine, but I feel like the ramifications of not keeping a balance can be truly detrimental. Consider the fact that to fully receive all that God has in store for us, we must trust that His heart is for our good and that His love is pure, and unfortunately for us as humans we all too often find ourselves basing that trust in our Heavenly Father on our earthly experiences. For example, a person who has had a parent (or parents) who were never trustworthy often has a hard time embracing that God is trustworthy. Another, maybe less obvious, example is an individual who has never felt that those in authority are trustworthy and therefore they struggle to believe that God is just and in due time will bring about a harvest of righteousness for those who remain faithful. 

 

We who live in a fallen world are bombarded by things that can make trusting extremely difficult, but we have a God who is long suffering and will bear with us in our moments of skittish behavior if we abide in Him. Even more so, He will do the work of restoring our trust and faith if we will but allow Him to remain in our space long enough to earn our trust, even though He is not the one who broke it. So, in summation, “in this world [we] will have trouble but take heart for [He] has overcome the world” (John 16:33). If we place our trust in the One who will never break it, perhaps we will not so often revert to flight or fight when it comes to our fellow man, because regardless of whether they are worthy of our trust or not, He will honor the faithfulness of our hearts and deeds and in the end, we will reap our reward.

 

Until next time, praying for you and yours.

 

~ Jen