Written as a blog entry for our Anchored To Hope community.
Everyone experiences those terrible moments when we realize that people are fallible. A friend breaks a commitment, a loved one stops caring, someone we thought we could count on turns out to be untrustworthy.
It’s even worse when that unreliable soul is us.
Moments of betrayal often seem devastating. They leave us questioning, hurt and disappointed. Sometimes, we emerge convinced that we can never believe in other people again. Or, we decide that, since we can’t honor commitments, we don’t deserve our most important relationships.
Belief remains as fundamental to life as oxygen. Why get out of bed for an unstable, unfriendly world?
History and hard experience teach that my father’s constant advice constitutes the only solution. Every time I failed, he told me to get back on the horse and ride.
We may not always feel like it. But believing again is key not only to getting through current pain but also reclaiming our passion and purpose.
Think of great people like Abraham Lincoln. As president, he was ridiculed, hated, and eventually murdered. He spent most of his depressed presidency worrying that he was presiding over the greatest failure of all, a splintered, unrepairable America. Even his own Secretary of State betrayed his trust early in his first term.
But Lincoln lives on as one of our greatest presidents today in large part because he persevered. He did not give up. He forgave people around him for their failings because he remembered that all are equal – equal in good choices as well as in bad.
In my own life, I’ve dealt with failure, loss, and pain just like you. I don’t know how well I’ve managed any of these challenges. Time will tell. That said, I do know I still get up every day and do the best I can. As a mentor recently wrote in his blog, I have great potential. And that means I haven’t realized my potential yet.
Don’t give up on people. Most of all, never give up on you. You are something to believe in.
