Learning to Trust
Doing anything that requires faith will expose a risk. Obviously. And yet all the risk-management programs in the world can not ultimately remove what Dutch philosopher Soren Kierkegaard knew was inevitably necessary: the risk. Failure must be a real possibility. The leap of faith must actually cost us.
Security, perceived and real, must be given up. We must be totally exposed. 100% released of all presumption. Once we let go of knowing, or of needing to know, we find freedom. Freedom to risk. To jump. To let go. To fall into the light. Into our life. To be born again.
That is the call of the artist: to release expectation. To let go of what we think should happen. To jump into pure potential. Pure possibility. (Lord, help us.) In our falling there is nothing to hold onto. There are no safeties. There is only the falling. Then, eventually…the flying.
Start! Today. Don’t wait. Let this moment shake you. Jump. We are on the ledge. Right now. Or at the foot of the mountain ready to climb. We can go no further without committing to the ride, the climb, the jump. We are at the end of the intro. The trail ends here!
…. ….[Pause]…. ….
There is nothing else to say. No words can provide what you need now. Start. Go! Pull the trigger. Do it. As you do, whatever step one is for you right now, come back to this. But only after you have done it. Only after you have pulled the trigger and jumped.
(Seriously. Go. Now.).
Well…how did it go? That’s the question you suspect. Wrong question. That would assume expectation of a certain result. Why do you expect something? Instead, how did it feel to act in trust? How is your trust growing? Are you more likely to act in faith again?
Trust is the muscle we are trying to build. There is no other way to build it. Risk is inherent. Doing things we can not predict or control, essential. Keep building your trust muscle. This is huge. An enormously powerful “measurable” that is without measure. Flex this!
Whatever you are doing - building, planning, etc, remember the real point is learning to trust. Not in your abilities. This is not an open mic for beginners. This is the crucible of perseverance for the advanced. We are learning to trust Life itself here. There is a plan!
The plan is flowing through you. Flowing through your needs. Flowing through your daily hopes. It is flowing even when you feel like you failed. Like all hope is lost. It is flowing all day, every day. Trust it. Trust that nothing can separate you from the plan. Nothing.
Except you.
Let if flow. Let it flow in you. Through you. Out of you. Let life become what it will become. You did not plant the seeds. You do not determine the flower. Life is happening to us. We are always being invited in. Accept it. Say yes! Take the invitation. Go!
And where it leads is where you need to be. That’s trust. Letting life take you where It will. It has a plan. It knows the plan. It is bringing you with. Stay malleable. Stay open. Stay soft in heart, strong in head. Don’t be lured to the left or to the right. The road is straight ahead!
Take it. That may be the hardest part of life. Taking the road right in front of us. We assume it must be somewhere else. Over here. Over there. No! It is right here. Under our feet. Trust. The road may not exactly rise up to meet you, but your feet definitely will land somewhere!
