Borrowing Trouble

Hello friends,

How has your week been? I've had quite a interesting week, mostly musing about how human beings sometimes like to borrow trouble that they don't need to. By that I mean worrying and getting overly agitated over things that one shouldn't simply because of a lack of complete trust in a promise that's been made.

I am part of a group that is part of a program here in Nigeria. A promise was made that was to have been fulfilled earlier this week. The timing was critical because there existed the possibility that a change in another area could nullify our collective expectations.

The administering authority expressly told us that the promise had been executed but the organization that was to fulfill and implement the promise delayed in doing so. For about 3 days, most people in the group all got agitated and almost had heart attacks because they doubted the claim that the promise had been executed. Eventually, on the day that was considered the final day for the fulfillment of the promise, it came through.

So I asked - did we need to have added 5 or more years to our age by all the worrying and agitation of the previous 2 days? The answer is no! Human nature however doesn't always accept that.

It all boils down to to Trust doesn't it? When we don't trust each other, or any party we have any form of partnership or relationship with life is made unnecessarily difficult. The root of distrust is usually past experience.  I am all for learning from the past but we need to take the lessons, move forward and be willing to trust again. It's a leap of faith but one we have to dare to take.

When we engage with anyone with less than complete trust, we withhold part of ourselves and it will be difficult to get maximum benefit from that relationship. Of course, I recognize that in some situations, one has to tread cautiously at the onset and test the other party in small ways to verify that they can be trusted. That is all well and good. Those tests should be strategically done, in reasonable time to enable you make the decision as to whether or not to continue the relationship or partnership.

When we decide to engage, we need to give the other party the benefit of the doubt and work with them freely. Knowing that you trust them can also sometimes make the other party work hard to ensure they don't betray the trust. Am I saying that we would never be betrayed again? Not at all. It's a risk that is very real but we mustn't live our lives with one eye looking back simply because of that possibility. Life is too short for that.

Courage demands that once we have evaluated the situation and feel the scales tilt more on the positive side, we need to give ourselves completely without reservation. My prayer is that God will grant us uncommon wisdom and insight, discernment to see beyond the surface. That way, we can make wiser, more informed judgement calls on who or what to trust.

It's a new day in Nigeria. Change has started and I ask that we all determine to exhibit the collective will to do our part in making it happen. Start by changing yourself, your attitude, your thinking, your work ethic. Take a hard look inside and assess where change needs to happen with you and begin to take steps towards that change. One of my mantras is "if it's going to happen, it's got to start with ME".

Have a lovely weekend and a wonderful new month. We're almost at the end of the first half of the year. Make June count!

Blessings on you and yours,

Your friend,

Olubunmi