In the same conversion with a friend, I mentioned that I trusted God completely, or, at least I am trying to do my best. I have not been tested with anything big yet, like on the scale of Job, but I hope I am ready if and when it ever comes. I just pray that someone does not have to die for me to learn a lesson.
To my friend, I described my trust in God like holding on to the tail of a tiger. I am not going to let go no matter what happens.
My friend smiled and said, “The image that first comes to my mind was someone trying to knock you off.”
Ooo! Maybe I’m setting myself up as a target with the tiger metaphor. A sudden image of Baloo holding Shere Khan’s tail in Jungle Book came to mind.
After the conversation, it occurred to me that trust, like faith, is not something to hold on to. Faith cannot be grasped. The harder one tries to hold onto it, the more slippery and allusive it becomes. Having faith, in a way, is like the paradoxes Jesus gives in the Bible: to find life, one must loose it, the first shall be last, and so on. You cannot go chasing faith. You need to stand still and let it come to you. (Besides, trying to hold onto something with all of my might is going to wear me out after awhile. Then where will I be?)
Faith, along with trust, must be invited in to take a seat within your heart. The door to your heart must always remain open, not so much that faith and trust will leave (they will leave soon after the door closes), but it must remain open to let love flow in and out. Love, like air, must flow freely in all directions in order to nourish faith and trust.