Trust No One

As I age, I am becoming more grouchy, more cynical and less trusting.  I have a cummulative experience of too many betrayals, had too many promises broken.  Hell, I don't even trust MYSELF most the time. Maybe I have unreasonable expectations.  Maybe I am wanting more from others than I do from myself?...

Ah, THAT hit a nerve!

Trust has it's place right along with forgiveness (which we aren't good at either, are we?)  LOVE is a combination of trust and forgiveness.  It isn't a nice neat transaction between two perfect people.  Love is messy, we try to get our needs met and meet someone else's as well.  Sooner or later, you will let them down, piss them off, act unfairly- not meeting their expectations.  Then the other person will get all offended and want an apology (which they MAY deserve) or worse- justice.  You don't want to go there, because if we all got what we deserved, our bacon would be burning in Hell.  People have a choice to make: forgive, or leave.  Loads of people have such messed up communication skills and a lack of commitment these days that they just leave.  You might recognise that relationships (friendships, business dealings, family tiffs) often will end up stronger if you will swallow your pride and work through the mess.  That takes maturity.

I will throw this in for free:  If you burn through friends, lovers and jobs it is because of you, and you ought to get that looked at- if you follow my drift- before you end up lonely and wishing you hadn't burned all those bridges.

Now don't leave nasty comments about situations where someone is abusing someone else or cheating or lying.  Most those situations involve two broken people and there is blame enough for both in most cases -though it never seems to be even blame does it?  Truth is you make choices and the other party makes choices, you make mistakes and so do they.

Sometimes we expect the other person to be for you what only God was intended to be.

Security? Personal identity?  Personal worth?  Protector?  Source of strength?  Those things come from God.  Anyone looking to their partner, friend or lover for that is bound to be disappointed.