Living Love Through the Practice of Trust

Dear Ones, 

This month’s theme is prompting me to reflect on the difference between having trust and practicing trust.  In religious circles, we often use the word “trust” when we talk about having faith that the Universe will hold us.  This kind of trust can feel like a gift.  Sometimes we can feel this on our own, and sometimes we have to rely on our faith communities to reassure us that yes, we can have that trust.  That kind of trust we can have is nurtured by a kind of trust we practice.  We are part of the Universe, after all, and the work we do to create spaces of safety and wholeness and peace is a practice that makes us agents of other people’s trust.  I believe this practice is more important now than it’s ever been, as many of the safety nets we’ve learned to count on are being dismantled. 

Our faith communities have a role to play here too, as places in which we can feel safe enough to receive the challenges of witnessing the inhumane and unjust parts of our society, and rise to meet them.  They’re also places we can practice trust by working in collaboration – by putting the work down because others are ready to pick it up, knowing that we’ll be there to pick it up when rest calls to them.  And yet another way to practice trust is to learn to hear the small voice inside us that calls us to meet those challenges, guiding us into action that feeds us while helping create peace and justice.  This is trust in ourselves.

At this time in our nation, it’s going to get harder and harder to have trust – which will make it more necessary to practice trust.  May we remember to cultivate trust in ourselves, trust in each other, and others’ trust in us – which all feed each other in a beautiful spiral.

In faith and love,

Karen

[March 5, 2025]