What is TRUST? |

Sponsored Click Here for more info...

What is trust exactly? Is there more than one emotional definition for the word? I have been contemplating trust lately, a lot. So I looked up the meaning in the dictionary.

Trust: noun

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

2. confident expectation of something; hope.

3. confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.

4. a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.

5. the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted.

6. the obligation or responsibility imposed on a person in whom confidence or authority is placed: a position of trust.

7. charge, custody, or care: to leave valuables in someone’s trust.

8. something committed or entrusted to one’s care for use or safekeeping, as an office, duty, or the like; responsibility; charge.

Basically, putting your trust in someone requires confidence in that person. It is about expectations, hope, strength and integrity. If you are the one being trusted, you have a responsibility and obligation to live up to those expectations. I guess that is why it hurts so much when someone breaks your confidence in their ability to be trusted. When your hope in them is broken, when the strength to uphold their part of the responsibilities and obligations of life is shattered, trust is almost impossible to rebuild.

Integrity is part of the definition that really jumps out at me. When I examine who I have put my trust into lately, I have found that integrity is so important. People that follow through with what they say they will do, who uphold my expectations in them are trustworthy. When the hope I place in them is rewarded with actions that coincide with those hopes, they are deemed trustworthy.

Trusting someone involves a great deal of vulnerability. To commit to allowing someone to take care of a need for me is a huge leap of trust. I am learning to evaluate who I trust. I have been too open with who I trust, freely giving it to just about anyone. This is no longer my policy. You have to earn my trust. It is hard to obtain. It is not easy for me to be confident in another person’s ability to provide stability, to follow through with my expectations, to put my hope in them. Maybe someday my heart will heal and I will be the openly trusting, free-spirited girl I was again. But for now, I am guarding my heart. My heart is on lock down, and only the truly worthy are allowed entrance. Broken trust is no fun. It is hard to move past, it’s difficult to re-give.

Have you ever had your trust broken in a huge way? How did you move past it, were you able to salvage your relationship with that person? Were you able to move past the incident and re-build the trust? Tell me about it.

2 Responses to What is TRUST?

Kelli Willhaus says:

October 5, 2011 at 10:30 am

Trusting someone is one of the hardest things to do.. especially after it’s been broken. But gaining someones trust has got to be one of the most rewarding feelings EVER.
stephanie miller says:

October 4, 2011 at 9:04 am

robyn, i so understand what you are feeling! my husband of 13yrs walked out on my daughter and i friday night, and told me sunday he wanted a divorce. there was no fighting, no arguing leading up to this, i am pretty sure he is having an affair, but of course he denies it, they all do. i am heartbroken, devestated, and i too am on lockdown. the worst part of it, is what my 13yr old daughter said to me 1 day after he had gone. “i guess you cant trust boys after all” that is such a devestating thing for a 13 year old girl to learn. i will be sending prayers your way, please keep me in yours as well. thanks.