License Plate Message

“I remember sitting parked by the roadside once, terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter’s illness and what was going on in our family, when out of nowhere a car came along down the highway with a license plate that bore on it the one word out of all the words in the dictionary that I needed most to see exactly then. The word was TRUST. What do you call a moment like that? Something to laugh off as the kind of joke life plays on us every once in a while? The word of God? I am willing to believe that maybe it was something of both, but for me it was an epiphany. The owner of the car turned out to be, as I’d suspected, a trust officer in a bank, and not long ago, having read an account I wrote of the incident somewhere, he found out where I lived and one afternoon brought me the license plate itself, which sits propped up on a bookshelf in my house to this day. It is rusty around the edges and a little battered, and it is also as holy a relic as I have ever seen.”
– FREDERICK BUECHNER

I was reminded of this word and quote on my run this morning.  It’s also what I need most right now, and perhaps you might as well.  Trust.  Trust in God.  Trust in the goodness of life and good, even though we often don’t “believe” it, or feel it, or envision it.  And there lies the invitation – to trust from the heart.  To trust with my heart.  To trust the heart of God for my present and future – working all things for good.  Surrendering, I trust.  When I trust in my own mind, my own understanding, my own knowledge, and brilliance I get afraid and lose hope.  The power for me in trusting in someone greater than myself, who has my best interest at heart and to trust with my heart, is a powerful invitation and remedy.  I guess there is nothing new under the sun, as it says in the old, good book: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge God and God will direct your steps.”  Prov. 3:5-6

Beloved God, help me to trust.
I want to trust.
I will trust.
Now in this moment,
I trust.

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