Trust II

“I put my trust in you.” It means that I have given you a part of me, a part of my heart. This gift of trust is unconditional, and like my love, comes with no strings attached.

To keep my trust, you need do nothing. To put conditions on my trust would make it not a gift but a contract in which I seek to bind you to my will and to my beliefs in what type of person you must be to be worthy of my trust.

I know there are those whose trust is conditional, that require of you certain acts and deeds. If you fail to meet their standards (which may shift and change with the sands of time), you lose their trust, for they take it back, having never truly given it to you.

To me, trust goes beyond behavior, beyond personality, and beyond the commitments we share between us. Trust to me is my deepest expression of love. It is the seed that is a part of my spirit that I plant in your heart.

Like all seeds, it may grow, or it may whither. You are the gardener of your own heart, and the seed of trust I give to you is yours—to nurture, to protect, and to watch blossom—if that is your wish.

What grows from that seed can never die. Yes, it may whither from neglect, or it may grow strong and tall only to be chopped down by you in a single blow. Those are your choices.

My choice is to live on as a part of you. The seed of trust I give is not a flower that blooms once and then dies to return no more. That is not the way I choose to be.

You see, I believe in you. I believe in the core goodness of your spirit. I believe that to find a home in your heart will enhance my life. And I believe in your struggle, a struggle we all share, to find out who you are and why you are here, and to discover the glory of the Universe that exists within your being.

Yet, I know that there may be times when you do not tend to the garden in your heart. You may lose your way. But I give my trust to you knowing full well of your humanity, that like me you will stumble and fall along the path of life.

When this happens, I will feel pain. It is the price I am willing of my own free will to pay to be a part of you. If my trust is a casualty in your search to find your true Self, then so be it. I do not wish my trust to limit you or keep you from learning the lessons of this life on Earth.

I only ask that you remember that my trust is eternal, and if you cast it from your heart or neglect its needs, it will remain unhealed and in pain… forever… until you choose to let it grow once more. Only when you take my trust back into your raw, open, fertile heart can it overcome the wounds it has received and sprout again. Until you do this, you leave a part of me in pain.

But I make you this promise. If you ever return my damaged trust back into your heart, I will let that part of me heal. I will not exact retribution by allowing my injured trust to fester and poison your unprotected heart.

For what I desire most is for my seed of trust to grow stout and strong in your heart, that it might provide a place to lean when you are tired, a place to find shade from the heat of life’s battles, and a place to find shelter from the cold and fury of life’s storms. If you honor my gift by tending it so well, we will both benefit from its strength.

You may ask how best to grow this seed of trust. That I cannot answer, for I, too, am searching for directions. I can only offer as advice—from one novice gardener to another—what I have found so far.

Tend first to the needs of your heart. Within it you will find happiness, joy, love, and peace. Amidst its quiet serenity, you will hear the voice of God directing you on your journey and in the tending of your garden. In this, as in you, I trust.