Do you trust me?
Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies. It’s right up there with The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and all the other 90’s classics. What a great decade that was! We watched Aladdin a bunch when the boys were growing up; in fact those songs are still stuck in my head! If you never got around to seeing it, add it to your watch list pronto, as it’s one of Robin Williams’ best voice-over performances of all time! Anyhow, part way through the movie there’s a scene where Aladdin invites Princess Jasmine onto the magic carpet as he asks her, “Do you trust me?” Friends, it seems God is asking us the exact same thing.
Do you trust me on this great adventure called life? Do you trust that I am good, even when circumstances are not what you’d like them to be? Do you trust that I love you, in spite of all your faults and failings? Do you trust that I’ll supply you with everything you need to follow me? Do you trust that I’m at work (often in the background) causing all things to work together for good?
Friends, our entire lives are essentially a trust walk, as we learn to rely more on Jesus and less on ourselves, and the only one who can help us do this is the Holy Spirit, our constant companion. The Holy Spirit helps us hang onto the “magic carpet” of life, with its ups and downs, twists and turns. Just when you think you’re about to land safely, something throws you for a loop and bam, it’s another crash landing. At that point fear takes over and we quickly forget that God’s got us.
In Bishop Barron’s book, And Now I See, he says that our fundamental problem is that “…we see and know and perceive with a mind of fear rather than with a mind of trust.” This causes us to be small, cramped souls (pusilla anima) vs the large, roomy, expansive souls (magna anima) we’re meant to be. He goes on to say that “Christianity is, above all, a way of seeing.” So how do we learn to see with eyes of faith and a heart of trust? It takes practice dear friends, because our factory default setting is to scan for threats and avoid danger. This helps keep us alive, but it can be a real stumbling block in our spiritual lives.
Growing up in a Middle Eastern family, my parents unwittingly instilled a lot of fear in us (which is not uncommon for that culture). As I look back, I realize it’s made it harder for me to trust God in certain aspects of my life. Relinquishing control doesn’t come naturally for me, but with prayer, self-awareness, God’s grace, and the blessing of some great spiritual writers, I can honestly say I’m getting better at it, so there’s hope for all of us!
Friends, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us cultivate an attitude of total trust in our Heavenly Father, so that it becomes our spiritual default setting. Doing so will free us to become the great, roomy, expansive souls we’re meant to be, capable of soaring to the highest heights of moral and spiritual perfection!