Heartfelt thanks for the many wonderful responses submitted this past week. Given the apparent popularity of this topic, we may need to turn “Trust” into a two-parter. Look out next week for “Trust Episode V: Doubt Strikes Back.”
After all, what is “trust” if not faith and hope in another person? And what is the antithesis of faith and hope if not doubt? We are taught “doubt not, but be believing.” (Mormon 9:27) The following thoughts about trust and doubt were submitted by readers this past week:
“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” (George MacDonald) The Lord loves all of us, but look how He disposes of His trust. Think of the Parable of the Talents.
“We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.” (Walter Anderson)
“The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith.” (Bertrand Russell, English Logician and Philosopher 1872-1970)
"There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills." (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddism, 563-183 B.C.)
We should never sacrifice hope to bury pain. (Name withheld, "Did I Still Love Him?", Ensign, Feb. 2011, 33–35, http://lds.org/ensign/2011/02/did-i-still-love-him?lang=eng)
When I read that your topic was about trust, I thought it definitely worthy of study this week…One of the first things that came to my mind was the example of how powerful trust is on one who feels unworthy of it.
Is there anything more profoundly hopeful than the “benefit of the doubt?” If we’re always looking for reasons to doubt in our relationships, we’ll find them. It can become the paralyzing antithesis of faith. Giving others the benefit of the doubt empowers both them and ourselves. Ultimately, trust is a gift and it’s ours to give. But like any precious gift, it should never be given or earned lightly. And like any dance worth dancing, a relationship built on trust requires two.* So how do we, in this age of instant electronic communication, virtual distractions, and endemic social alienation, build and earn trust?
*Except maybe Irish clogging, “Lord of the Dance” style. C’mon…I’m not the only one who thinks this, right?
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