“The real underlying flaw in your life, Melanie, is that you don’t think that I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything–the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual lives–is covered by my goodness–then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me. But you don’t.
“Melanie, you cannot produce trust just like you cannot ‘do’ humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me.”
But I don’t know how to change that.
“You can’t, not alone. But together we will watch that change take place. For now I just want you to be with me and discover that our relationship is not about performance or having you please me. I’m not a bully, not some self-centered demanding little deity insisting on my own way. I am good, and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only through a relationship of love. And I do love you.”
