Easily Broken, Difficult to Repair

“Trust” is a wonderful word. If I trust you I am attesting I am confident about your integrity, strength, and/or ability. Trust doesn’t come easily. When lost, it is difficult-nigh to impossible- to regain. Trust is made up of interaction (getting to truly know someone) and an established track record. It is destroyed daily in small ways. A little lie, failing to follow through on something promised, or a confidence broken. Failure to walk the talk and to do what one says he will do both rank up there on the list of trust destroyers. Truth and trust are interrelated.

Stephen M. R. Covey in The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything explains violating character behavior is the quickest way to decrease trust. Demonstrating competence is the quickest way to increase it. Trust is a function of both character (who you are) and competence (what you produce, strengths, capabilities, and skills).

Trust is notably the foundation of all positive relationships: self, others, and with God. It is one of the strongest bonds that exists. The irony is that it is also one of the most fragile. It can be easily broken like a glass vase crashing to the floor in a thousand pieces; impossible to glue back together. Someone has rightly said, “trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.” Help us, Lord—to trust and to be trustworthy. After all, the old word “faithful” is the same as our modern word “trustworthy.”

by: James G. Poitras

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