Love vs Trust.....

Being let down in life is one of the most difficult emotions to experience. When you look up to someone so much that you place the safety of your heart or life in their hands its a very vulnerable place to be. I read a quote this week that said this,“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” -George Macdonald. Love is often treated more as an emotion than an action. We treat love as something that can be turned on and off like a light switch. If someone lets us down or disappoints us its easy to let that love waiver. We are a society of conditions. We base how we love on emotions and circumstances and display this with our actions each day. Although the word love can be tossed around easily because its been ingrained in so many of us as conditional, trust isnt as easy. 

Trust isnt one sided, but something someone has to earn. You can love someone without them loving you back but trust is a process of placing those vulnerable pieces of your life in the hands of another. In my marriage trust is one of the most important things we have. I love my husband more than words can express, but even more so than that I trust him. I trust the most delicate parts of my story, my heart, my emotions and my life with him. I feel safe and secure and would never question his intent for the very best to protect my life and our daughters life. 

Growing up I remember hearing a phrase many times and I'm sure most of you can relate. I remember my mom saying that "trust was gained and that she would continue to trust me unless I gave her a reason not to and then it was something that was very hard to earn back." My mom raised my sisters and I as a single mother and my dad has been absent from our lives for the past 20 years. She made many sacrifices and I admire her strength and all she did for us. Not having my father around was something that was difficult for me at different times in my life because every girl wants a father in her life but what I learned was that I just didnt want this father figure to be apart of my life and love me but it was more about trust. Fathers are meant to love, guide, teach and most of all protect. They are supposed to be your night in shining armor and always be the prince in a girls life regardless of if she is 15 or 35. I missed out on a father being at my softball games, teaching me to drive, standing in the doorway with a shotgun when I started dating lol, walking me down the aisle on my wedding day, and becoming a grandpa when my most precious miracle Macie was born. Its not something that I struggle with anymore because I have learned that although I don't understand alot of things and choices he made he is still human and imperfect. 


There was a story that broke out January 14th just a week and a half ago that captured attention around the world. The "Costa Concordia" 114,500-ton ship and one of the worlds most modern and well equipped cruise liners had crashed on the shore of Italy. It appears to be based on human error and the captains navigation too close to the shore of Giglio that a massive chunk was taken from the ships base causing a series of disastrous consequences. Lives were lost and heartache instilled on a ship of panicked, fearful passengers. I can't imagine what emotions they experienced that day expecting to go on the cruise of a lifetime and instead find themselves fighting for their lives. You always know that their are risks but we have become accustomed to trusting people of higher authority and positions that you just never think anything differently and always believe they will be there to have things under control. With the cruise liner "Costa Concordia" we quickly learned of this disappointing truth. When so many people were fighting for their lives and looking up to their captain to lead them, guide them, and protect them he let them down. Its hard to justify the reasons behind his actions, as in the story I shared of my life and my father. I can't understand things but what I have realized is that humans will always let us down. 

As I lift up my eyes to my heavenly father Jesus it would be easy for me to be guarded and to compare Him to my earthly father, to see His love as conditional and not trusting but God is anything but that. Like the passengers on the cruise liner we have all had people whom we have entrusted our lives and hearts with and been let down and disappointed. I trust my husband and love him so much but even he is human and will let me down. My daughter has let me down, my family, and friends have all let me down at some point and I know I have let them down also but God has never failed me. Psalm 118:8 "It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Regardless of my mistakes, my failures, the path I take in life, the pain I have experienced, the goals I haven't met He will always be there for me and love me unconditionally. Although it may be scary, although you may have been let down before in life if you keep your guard up in fear, you might miss out on the opportunity to place your vulnerable pieces before the Lord and be embraced in His arms of safety, peace and unconditional love.