Before answering that, don’t you need to define “trust.”

ln the military they say you put your life and your trust in another soldier’s hands.

Webster defines it as reliance on the integrity and strength of someone else, having the confidence in someone or something that it is trust-worthy. lt’s difficult to trust one you fear, or has harmed you, or has shown they cannot be trusted. You trust someone to do what they say they will do, to be who they claim to be, to keep a confidence, to NOT harm us.

We want to trust our parents, our siblings, our spouses, our children, our friends, our pastor, our doctor, our lawyer, our dentist, our bank, our insurance person. Some of us have little difficulty trusting others; some of us find that extremely difficult. Some tend to trust easily; for others, trust must be earned. Once broken, it takes a long time (if ever) to win it back.

How comfortable are you with anyone or any institution or business that you don’t feel you can truly trust? Most of us shy away. So going back to the original question: who do YOU trust?

When it comes down to who we really trust to know us for who we really are, for most of us that’s a pretty short list – for some a non-existent list.

Deciding to trust is the beginning and foundation of love. How much love can there be without trust? And how much trust can there be without love?

So who do you REALLY trust enough to let see inside you and be confident in the belief that they will still love you, warts and all. And do you really believe that “love” in it’s purest form, is conditional?

For most of us, that’s a pretty short list – if it exists at all. ls God on that list? Try answering that one for yourself.

And a followup question: if you can’t think of anyone you trust, why do you think that’s true?