Knowing who to trust and who not too is often difficult. When I was younger it was as if there is an inverse correlation between those who are fun and exciting to be around and those who can be trusted. Their names do not matter now and although the problem seemed to remain for years it is finally fading.
As I remember “cool” friends of younger days, they stand in direct contrast to the friends I now hold close to my heart. The very things that attracted me now put space between us. What I used to assume as facts are now the very things that define friendship, relationship, and trust. Friends are still radical, live-on-the-edge, enjoy-life-to-the-max type of people, yet they do it in ways that do not destroy relationships.
I reflect and I can see the one thing that has changed during the years is “me”. It is as if I finally understood that “gossips can’t keep secrets, so never confide in blabber-mouths.” (Proverbs 20.19) I learned that trust is a gift between friends, relationships are about building up instead of tearing down, and that family and friends are sacred.
Most people forget that God offers to be our friend. It is not a friendship that occurs at God’s convenience, it is a relationship that exists in good times and bad, growing and dying, struggling and achieving. God committed every aspect of who and what the Divine is so that we can live life to the full and walk in hope of a full recreation. This sounds complex, perhaps a simple way of saying it is that God comes into friendship with eyes open. It does not stop there; rather this is merely the beginning. We are loved and accepted just as we are. We receive gifts of mercy and grace in unlimited measures. We are surrounded by hope.
I trust God. I also know that the process is about understanding my self and discovering just how intensely and unconditionally God loves and accepts me just as I am.
P.S. God loves you too.
