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“Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly” (George MacDonald).
AN “ANCHOR” IS A HEAVY OBJECT ATTACHED TO A VESSEL BY A CABLE AND CAST OVERBOARD TO KEEP THE VESSEL FROM MOVING — AND “ANCHORAGE” IS THE CONDITION OF BEING AT ANCHOR IN A SAFE PLACE. If it’s important for ships to find anchorage when they need it, it’s even more important, in a figurative sense, for people to find places where they can be anchored. And the kind of anchorage we need more often than any other kind is the security of a relationship in which there is trust. When the weather is stormy, we need a relationship of mutual trust that will keep us from drifting.
It’s a rare person who hasn’t been seriously betrayed somewhere along the way. That being true, the tendency is for us to retreat from trust and the dangers that usually go along with it. Having been hurt, we’re tempted never again to cast anchor in anyone else’s harbor. But that’s a temptation we must resist with all our might. We never do ourselves any greater damage than when we turn away from trust. There is no avoiding our need for anchorage.
Rather than fretting about the scarcity of trustworthy people in the world around us, we’d do better to work on our own trustworthiness. It’s as true with trust as it is with many other things: it is more blessed to give than to receive. A reputation for being trustful is not a weak reputation to have; it’s one of great strength. There’s no greater honor than being known as people who are both trustworthy ourselves and also eager to trust others. If others think of “anchorage” when they think of us, that’s a treasure we should protect.
Anchorage is, in fact, a gift that can be given. It’s a thing we can deliberately choose to extend to those around us. And we ought not only to give it freely, but appreciate those who have given it to us. If it’s been a while since you thanked someone who has encouraged you by trusting you, today would be a fine day to do that.
When people offer to us the gift of trust — especially when it is more than we deserve — we are changed forever. Having had someone who gave us anchorage during a storm that could’ve destroyed us, we are never the same afterward. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.
“The comfort of having a friend may be taken away, but not that of having had one” (Seneca).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
