FAMILY WELLNESS AND TRUST

FWR Says: Risks in Good Families - Trust

Here we have a tricky matter. Some folks are more trusting than others. You can have it and lose it. If you have it, it can grow with time and experience. How does it get started? Maybe an attempt to understand it will help.

Trust is acceptance and respect without knowledge. Trust happens despite lack of information. Trust therefore, is a gift to someone out of the blue. It just happens. Where it goes depends on the relationships and experiences that follow.

A newcomer was greeted into a closely knit church group. The sponsor was gracious as was the group. During a conversation with the sponsor, he pointed out that it would take time to get trust from the group. The newcomer was taken aback. He said to himself, this is an ingrown group if it cannot extend trust to newcomers.

There is a unique type of trust which is found primarily in marriage. It is a deep trust that stays trusting despite bad experiences. That kind of trust does not shy away from the facts. It lives on openness. If the facts are not good then there is either forgiveness or loss of trust.

From this we see that trust is a precious but fragile matter. It calls for much from the giver. The payoff is another person who becomes trusting – with both enjoying a new sense of security.

FWR Says: Trust starts with a lot of giving and risk - the payoff is big!