faith vs trust – the wheelbarrow *edit*

A man is walking a tightrope, 50 feet up in the air. He walks across several times, successfully. Then he begins to push an empty wheelbarrow from one side to the other. He makes it successfully several times with that as well. The audience below claps and cheers, screaming wildly. The man takes a deep breath. “How many of you believe that I can make it safely from one side of this tightrope to the other?”. The crowd cheers, all of them raising their hands, knowing he can because they’ve seen him do it. “How many of you, then, believe I can push this wheelbarrow across safely from one side to the other?”. More cheering. “Well that was easy” the man said, smiling down on the crowd. “Now who will volunteer to sit in the wheelbarrow while I push it across?”. Silence.

The difference between faith and trust is simple, really.

Faith is believing, either blindly or because of knowledge of events that something is possible. Trust is putting yourself in the position to prove it. In other words:

Faith is believing the tightrope walker can walk that line safely. Trust is getting in the wheelbarrow.

I’ve had (and still carry some) issues with trust. In any circumstance, its okay to trust enough, being minorly vulnerable, while keeping yourself protected. At some point, though, to reach a state of trust with those who are trustworthy, and have proven themselves to be so… There comes a point where you have to be willing to let go of that control – that safety net and just let yourself go. It may mean you can fall or get hurt. But you know what? The reward, if you’re right far outweighs the risk. At least for me. I’ve always been an all-or-nothing person. I’m not anymore. But I’m not afraid.

All flying begins, at the very first… With a freefall. You just have to trust that your parachute will open. Interesting concept, one I’m still exploring. But god I love this ride.

“so save your prayers for when you’re really gonna need ’em – throw out your cares and fly… Wanna go for a ride?”. Smashing Pumpkins – Zero

And also…

“Forget the fear, its just a crutch that tries to hold you back and turn your dreams to dust – all you need to do is just trust…god, I want to dream again, take me where I’ve never been – I want to go there. This time I’m not scared”. Fireflight “unbreakable”

*edit*
And I have to say, right now in this moment when the world is foggy brilliant and my eyes are glowing with starlight in the middle of the day – and please remind me of this later…

This is a dreamer letting go, learning to surrender to the chance, experiencing a willingness to either soar or crash…. This is the only time I’ve been aware – this is me surrendering. Now watch me fly. Dare ya.