12th – 18th November 2017
This week I have thought a lot about trust.
I was at church last Sunday and in front of me was a man throwing his daughter up into the air and then catching her. The little girl was loving it and kept asking her dad to do it again.
It brought back some memories from my childhood because my dad use to do it to me to. I also remember loving it as much as that little girl seemed to.
It made me think on how much I must have trusted my father, I knew that every time he threw me up in the air I knew he would catch me. I don’t think it ever entered my head back then that there was a possibility that he could let me fall.
I also remember believing everything he taught me. I believed that you don’t just walk into the road without looking, I believed that doing homework was important, I believed not to accept a lift off a stranger. All of these truths helped to keep me safe.
I also believed things that weren’t quite so true like when he said we had a money tree in the bottom of the garden and if you looked carefully you could find some coins that have dropped off! I believed in Father Christmas, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny and all the other things parents usually tell their children.
As I grew up I found out that some of those things I was told by my parents weren’t true. I was disappointed but I remember thinking it made my childhood a little more magical and exciting and I have to say I ended telling my kids exactly the same fictional things.
It made me think that a child had no reason to doubt her father. A father is there to always catch you when you fall, he always loves you unconditionally, he is there for you no matter what.
Why is it that when you turn into an adult that trust fades ?. I know now that if my Dad could even throw me up into the air there is no way he would catch me – I would more than likely flatten him!!
I think the trust fades because you stop believing in yourself. I have always classed myself as a trustworthy person, if someone told me a secret I would always keep it – I have never thought it was my place to say. However when it comes to trusting myself I think I find it a little harder especially when there’s food about.
There are a group of ladies from our church who meet up once a fortnight and we have just started a course on our identity in Christ. Throughout this journey over the past 2 years that is one thing I have been addressing. I have found out who I am and who I want to be and learning that I am not here by accident and that God does have a plan for my life.
I think knowing who you are and the fact that you are loved is something I think we all need to keep telling ourselves. That’s why it is always good to be reminded that your father is there to catch you no matter what. I just think I need to be as trusting as a child and then I might enjoy the journey a bit more.
