Living as an Entrusted One

When you realize you are trusted, everything changes.

Since this is so, what could be more profound in this vein than to realize that the Creator has entrusted you with a double portion of “who” and “what”: who you are designed to be and what you are designed to do. 

The gift of who you are and what you’re good at comes from outside of you. It was put in you. Because the Creator trusts you to multiply that gift (both the who and the what), to enrich it, to perfect it, to produce something out of it. If you do that, it will not only give you joy and a flourishing not ruled by circumstances; it leads to the flourishing of others. 

What have you been entrusted with? Who are you, and what are you designed to do? 

If you have little more than a single clue to the answer to those questions—start with that clue. Truth is like a huge ball of string. Start with the one thread you can grasp, and eventually you will reach the whole, if you’re brave enough to keep going. 

Therefore, take the clue and inform it. Invest in it. Develop it. Subject it to the rigors of the athlete, the discipline of the soldier, and the perseverance of the farmer. Block time off and guard it—jealously guard it—as the energizing response to realizing that you are an entrusted one. 

This is what I do when I write. This is what I do when I study the mechanics of poetry. In the moment, it may seem like little has happened. But on the day I unexpectedly met author Max Lucado or the day I chanced to meet Paul Young, every moment of preparation paid off. 

The private work of the entrusted one requires daily acts of micro-bravery. Saying no to distractions. Saying no to diversions. Saying no to a band wagon everyone else is hopping on. Saying no to the fear of the loss of relationships, reputation, revenue—or all three. Saying no to being jerked around by reactionary things. Do you not know that push notifications are often a form of other people morphing your priorities away from the unique thing you are entrusted with? This is why you must not let them steal your leisure. This is why you must not let them move you off the place of peace and into aggravation. This is why you must create compartments of scheduled, tension-free time when you actively enrich your skills through practice, mentorship, and through education, both formal and  independent study. 

If you remain consistent in doing so, you have placed yourself on an invisible timeline that intersects with a moment when—to your great wonder and relief—you are ready. The rest of us are depending on you to come through. For if you do not, we will all lose out. But if you do, the rest of us (not to mention yourself) will be all the richer for it. For only you can unlock for us what has been entrusted to you.

© Kurt Mähler