Meditation on Trust
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When we were at a loss, discouraged by the ills of this world it has been each other we could turn to. We have been each other’s supports, each other’s comforter, and each other’s witness of love. Tragedy has caused growth in our relationship; it has accumulated trust for each other in our marriage bin. In our area last Sunday many people lost their house, that structure that so many couples put their dreams in, and all their money, and all their time, a lifetime that was taken away in ten seconds. We have all been warned not to put our faith in the things of this world, but we all do. When you see it all gone, literally scattered to the four winds, rather the tornado force winds, a couple is left with only those things they have built in each other. Now, the bin of trust is all they have to sustain them, to carry them through.
Often people think the church asks you to give up things, probably because we have a tradition as the American church of preaching against things: gambling, drink, dancing, and many other things that would encourage dancing or those other things dancing encourages. I feel God doesn’t want us to give things up, but to accept the important things, the things not of this world, Building gifts that will be there with you, even as you face devastation. A marriage is a gift of God because it is one thing in this world that will allow us to build this reservoir of trust, an example of unconditional love that will open a person to the love of God. If we seek the gifts of God we will not find we are denying ourselves things, but we will be building that which the world cannot take away. Our lives will be like a well tended garden, producing a bounty of spiritual things that will be stored for the devastating times - the times when we need to draw them out to carry us through. Each day in a marriage when you do a simple kindness, show an expression of love, do what you know your spouse needs you to do, you add to that bin of trust. Knowing trust is there stored away is the only secure thing in an uncertain world.
