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or the record, I am not talking about any form of trust but the trust of one’s instincts, one’s gifts and talents, one’s potential and one’s purpose and calling. What do you think about these things? Do you trust yourself and the calling that is upon your life? Do you trust it enough to go out of your way to develop it and nurture it for decades? You see, that is what it will take: Decades. Not a few fleeting months.

Seeking Shortcuts

The trends that we see though can help us predict where trust of our gifts and talents is headed. Bible teacher Joyce Meyer shares a very interesting story. She was hosting a conference one day and at break tea, a lady confronted her. I will give you a picture of how I perceive the confrontation took shape.

“You are a cheat Joyce Meyer” charges the distraught woman.

“What in the world did I do?” asks Joyce bewildered.

“You lied to me in one of your teaching programs on TV that if I purchased one of your teaching products, my life will be changed”, explained the distraught lady.

Interested in exactly what the problem was, Joyce gets compassionate and seeks further clarity to unearth what the problem really was.

“How long have you been using that teaching?” Joyce asks keenly.

“One week, and it just doesn’t work, I want my money back, you can have these materials back” charged the lady.

So here we have a lady who has been living the kind of life that she has been living for decades, and expects that in a few weeks of listening to Joyce (and not taking action), something will change! That, ladies and gentlemen is the nature of people these days. Microwaving success.

The Highest Form of Trust

[ictt-tweet-inline]The highest form of trust can be seen through simplicity. The less clutter we accumulate and depend on, the more we are trusting[/ictt-tweet-inline]. Let me explain. If I feel that my worth is outside of me, then I will want to bring as many things from “outside of me” into my life as possible in order to “feel” worthy. What is the root cause of that? Lack of trust of my purpose. That can be extrapolated in very many ways:

1. Seeking shortcuts:

Because you do not trust that you are enough, you will want to jump on things that promise you success without sweat. The bandwagon mentality of pyramid schemes is the perfect example here…you can also add things like sports betting and lottery. People engaged in these things do not trust that they have enough power to generate not only what they need, but also an overflow that impacts society.

2. Scarcity Mentality:

You will be in a competitive mode because you feel like the world is not enough. Things such as hoarding, collecting more than you ever needed and selfishness will plague your life. You do not trust that there is enough in your and in the world to go around.

3. Dishonesty:

[ictt-tweet-inline]Bribery, corruption, dishonest gain and so on are all characteristics of people who have minimal trust in their calling[/ictt-tweet-inline]. So whenever an opportunity for dishonest gain comes, they delve on it with both hands. Some will be scared as they do it, but the root of the matter is that they do not trust their calling.

4. Fear and Greed:

[ictt-tweet-inline]Perhaps the greatest determinant of those that do not trust their calling is the spirit of greed and fear.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Greed causes people to hoard whenever they are in a position to. Fear causes people to despair whenever there is some sort of lack.

5. Suspicion and mistrust:

If you do not trust that you are enough, you will always be suspicious and selfish. You do not want to share and you think that everyone wants to take advantage of you.

[ictt-tweet-inline]Trust brings about simplicity. This highest form of trust is actually surrender.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Surrender to what? You might ask. Surrender to who you are, whom you are called to be and whom you are expected to be. You have been equipped for it, and brought on earth for nothing important than that calling. [ictt-tweet-inline]Surrendering to your calling is a result of ultimate total trust. It is the high road of fulfillment.[/ictt-tweet-inline] People wrongly think that surrender is a weak proposition. And so people fight and struggle instead of allowing life to have flow and harmony.

Trusting Yourself

Consider with me for a minute. What if you one day decided to trust that among other things:

• You are enough
• You are perfect
• You have been equipped with everything need to be a success in life
• You are needed and wanted here on earth

What Are You Believing?

[ictt-tweet-inline]You see, the quality of your life will be determined by what you choose to believe about the reason for your presence here on earth.[/ictt-tweet-inline] If you believe that there is scarcity in the earth and you are here to compete in order to “make it” in life, your actions will show clearly. However,[ictt-tweet-inline] if you trust that you came to the earth “on a mission” and that you are fully equipped (albeit in seed form), your approach to life will be a bit different.[/ictt-tweet-inline] The only problem with my premise is that from birth, you will be bombarded with contrary information causing you to not trust your calling.

The Race to the Bottom

Think about it: The sign of ultimate trust of your calling is what we call “race to the bottom”. People are racing to the top because they do not trust their calling. A race to the bottom is a simplistic, minimalist and de-cluttered life that even I aspire to live. There is so much freedom and fulfillment in it. Please not that I am not talking about a life of poverty, scarcity and lack. There is a heaven and earth difference between the two. Ultimate trust will appear in your life in the following ways:

Selflessness:

What a breath of fresh air. Someone who trusts in their calling is someone whose sights are set on the betterment of others through his/her gifts and talents and purpose. As such, they do not worry much about where they will sleep as long as those they are called to have slept and eaten. You think I am kidding or lying? Take a look at your mama. You only know how much she has sacrificed her life so that you can have a better life than she did. If not, there must be someone else in your life that you can identify this with. That person trusts not only their calling, but that you are also good to the calling and you have potential in you.

Contentment:

Trusting in your calling causes this contentment that is constant regardless of the season that you are in: in good times and bad times, you are content. In good times you know so well to give and invest, to sow for latter reaping. [ictt-tweet-inline]In bad times, you know too well that it does not define who you are, but it refines who you ought to be.[/ictt-tweet-inline]

Impact:

Since you are focused, there obviously will be impact in your life. Impact is not defined by what things you accumulate in life, but by how many lives you bless with your gifts, talents, purpose and calling. As a matter of fact, [ictt-tweet-inline]it is not easy for anyone anywhere to have impact in the lives of others if they do not trust their gifts and talents, calling and purpose.[/ictt-tweet-inline]

Faith and Trust:

I think the most exciting life of all is the life of faith and trust. Such a life is full of adventure, risk taking, learning, growing and reaching out to excavate potential. The contrary life is a life of conformity and comfort where we do not want to get hurt, we don’t want to experiment and so we do  not get to grow. That is what mistrust does to you.

All in all, for us to grow our potential and deploy our purpose, we need to start learning to trust that which is within us—our calling, purpose, gifts, talents and potential. But then the question still remains: Where do you think trust is going in the next five years? Sorry to say, I still feel and see that lots of people will keep mistrusting their gifts, talents, purpose and calling. And I think that is why I am here on earth, to try and change that.

End of Mini Series on Trust.