Trust precedes belief and love

Oasis

A person was walking slowly on a rope tied between two tall towers, balancing a long stick in his hands. His son was sitting on his shoulders. On the ground, everyone watched him in bated breath. When he reached the second tower successfully, everyone clapped, whistled, welcomed him and shook hands with him. He asked the crowd, “do you all think I can walk back on the same rope now from this side to that side?” The crowd shouted in unison “yes, yes you can.” “Do you trust me?” he asked.

They said yes, we are ready to bet on you. He said, “Okay, Can anyone send your child to sit on my shoulder; I will take the child to the other side safely.” There was a stunned silence. None of them was willing to take the risk. Everybody believed in that person’s ability, but nobody trusted him when it came to their involvement.

Believing in something is very easy, but placing our trust on the same is entirely different. We believe in God for having created us to exist in this universe and pray to him fervently, seeking divine intervention to all our problems, believing that He will do the needful. But, do we have that wholehearted trust required to wait patiently for Him to act or recognise His benevolent action when bestowed? Instead, in the meantime, we are anxious and seek other ways to get the problem solved. To trust, you need to surrender totally.

We not only believed, but had trust in our parents, to nurture us from our infancy to adulthood, and in our teachers, to teach us all the right things so that we grow up to be a wise and successful person. Now, it’s time we believe and trust ourselves to lead an honest and exemplary life that befits society and set examples for the youngsters to follow. Trust is considered to be greater than belief and love because, if you don’t trust a person, how can you believe or love him/her? Trust precedes belief and love. Trust is something that is earned through actions. If someone you believe or love breaks your trust in any way, or form, it isn’t a true affiliation.

As Isaac Watts said, “Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks”.