An accurate observation in a recent conversation kicked me emotionally right back into an Omani wadi. I was deep in the shadows. There was a rocky path and boulders to be navigated and I was woefully unprepared. I was told there was no chance of rain, even though the horizon suggested something different. While there was the sun, along with the hope of a crystal pool of water, ahead, did I trust what the future might bring?
It would be fiction if I wrote about the perfect hike up into the wadi, about my discovery of the secret pool of clear water and the effortless return. My reality of broken sandals, blisters, and tiredness is all in the true story. What is also in the story is my experience with trust. As I start today, those lessons are reminders I find myself holding close to my heart.
Being prepared may not be enough, but it helps. Being properly prepared by taking care of myself physically and mentally would have reduced the angst that day. The challenges and obstacles would still be there. The change could have been in where I placed my attention. It would have been primarily focused on the external rocks and boulders instead of dealing with the dramas within.
Trust is a choice within my control. With freedom comes the responsibility and accountability to place one’s trust. Do I trust love, compassion, and community or is it all about me and my views? “This is why the fulfilment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father – that’s reading the story backwards. He is our faith father.” (Romans 4.16)
The path ahead is a future filled with hope. The steps I choose determine the destination.
