DON'T GIVE UP ON TRUST

A post by Pastor Butch Tanner

One woman describes herself as "five feet, three inches tall and pleasingly plump." After she had a minor accident, her mother accompanied her to the emergency room. The triage nurse asked for her height and weight, and she blurted out, "Five-foot-eight, 125 pounds."While the nurse pondered over this information, the woman's mother leaned over to her. "Sweetheart," she said gently, "this is not theInternet."The Internet is becoming known as a place where the truth is not readily apparent. I've learned from the Internet that I have extremely wealthy acquaintances in Africa that have enormous sums of money they need to transfer out of the country. They literally contact me everyday! And if I will only help, they will gladly share a portion of their bounty with me and I'll become an instant multi-millionaire. Others promise me wealth beyond my wildest dreams if only I invest in an up-and-coming business venture. Daily, the Internet reminds me that greed can lead to disaster; that not everybody has my best interest in mind and I must be sensibly cautious.But in most relationships, I would rather trust than shut others out.I would rather be taken advantage of by a few than isolate myself from everybody. Perhaps not everybody should be trusted, but I would hateto experience life without it.Ralph Waldo Emerson put it well: "Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great."Children will more often live up our high expectations than not.Friends and colleagues will generally show themselves to be dependable. The world we live in is a good world, inhabited by mostly good people who can still be counted on.If you feel cynical, don't give up on trust. Others will usually come through. If love makes the world go 'round, then trust makes the love go 'round.