How often in today's world we hear the chilling words, "I just don't trust him anymore!" or "I'll never be able to trust you again!" Truly, trust has begun to wane.

Those of us who have been around for a while can recall another time, perhaps a simpler time, when a handshake secured a deal, when a person's word was his or her bond and was as good as gold. To be sure, times have changed. Our situation, however, is not without remedy; it can be fixed. What can we do to help?

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Jesus, as the perfect example of trust, demonstrated a willingness to trust others, as well as lived a life of rustworthiness, as depicted in this painting of meeting Mary after His resurrection.

First, we can be more willing to trust others. This can be difficult, sometimes painful, always a bit risky. Maybe this person who so desperately needs our trust has not merited it by past deeds or misdeeds. Perhaps it's the case that we have been "burned" more than once. Yet surely no one of us wants to live in a world where suspicion, harsh judgment and assuming the worst are the order of the day. Now we're not speaking here of throwing ourselves into the path of a moving train of abuse or danger, but rather being willing to take a chance on fellow humans who may have let us down in the past.

I often reflect on how much money my father lost, over a lifetime, in trying to assist friends and acquaintances through co-signing loans or standing behind persons unable to make it on their own. Surely, there are those only too eager to stand on the sidelines and label Dad as na?e, foolish or unwise, but he simply refused to surrender to cynicism. As long as he had it to give, he gave, and if he was going to err, he chose to err on the side of mercy.

Trust is particularly necessary in personal relationships. As an illustration, no marriage is worth its salt where a husband or wife have clammed up, hunkered down, taken refuge in their emotional fortress, and, because of past incidents, refused to trust one another. Intimacy in marriage — meaning tenderness, gentleness and emotional and spiritual closeness — will always require a measure of risk; the marriage partner must be willing to open up, share deep feelings and sentiments, and readily receive the same from his or her spouse. Marriage partners must be willing simply to let some things go, to forgive and forget, to move on. Surely there is nothing more helpless than a person being held hostage by the past.

Second, we can live in a way that makes us more trustworthy. We can keep our word, can be a promise-keeper. "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32, emphasis added). The Lord needs finishers. The Church desperately needs finishers, men and women, boys and girls who commit to something and stay with it until the job is done. Dependability, diligence and perseverance are worth their weight in gold.

Many hands make light work. Nothing is more refreshing than to be engaged in a project where those who volunteered actually show up, where everyone pitches in, where brothers' and sisters' individual gifts and graces blend and reinforce one another, where the process is delightful and the overall product is so much stronger and greater than the sum of the individual contributions.

Third, we can look for the beautiful and the praiseworthy in the world (see Philippians 4:8; Articles of Faith 1:13). We are told in modern revelation that the Light of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, "giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit" (Doctrine and Covenants 84:46, emphasis added).

By means of the Light of Christ, God uses the beauty and wonder and magnificence of the created order to teach us, to testify of God's reality, and to focus our minds and hearts upon those creations in our world that are easily missed or overlooked when we are driven by the tyranny of the urgent. This is why such activities as camping, long walks in nature, and taking time to smell the roses (literally and figuratively) are so emotionally and spiritually therapeutic: regular contact with and reflection on the Creation links us wonderfully to the Creator.

In that same spirit, there is much to recommend our taking the time to look more ponderously and patiently at people, to try to comprehend their souls, to appreciate more regularly who they are and Whose they are. Human beings are our Heavenly Father's greatest creation; indeed, everything placed on earth before man was in preparation for man. While God is the Author of beauty, He and His Beloved Son are in the business of people. Their stated work and glory is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). People matter more than anything.

The Holy Spirit rivets our attention on people and prompts Christlike living. That Spirit will, in time, form our character, purify our motives, deepen our convictions, refine our sentiments and foster reverence for life. We will come to realize, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, that "there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. ... [I]t is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit. ... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses" (The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, Touchstone, 1996, pp. 39-40). Because we each fall short, make mistakes, and disappoint others, we are all in need of pardoning mercy. Regular reflection on this reality will create a place for tenderness, will assist us to love others, to be patient with their weaknesses, to trust them more.

Fourth and finally, we can learn to trust the Lord more. The scriptures affirm that our Father in Heaven is the Father of Lights (James 1:17; D&C 67:9), that He possesses all of the attributes of godliness in perfection and as such is totally deserving of our confidence. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, made himself a substitutionary offering for our sins, rose from the dead in resurrected immortality, and received in the resurrection the fulness of the power and glory of the Father (D&C 93:16-17). He is, as Joseph Smith taught, the Prototype of all saved beings (Lectures on Faith 7:9), the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14; 19:16) who is worthy of our complete trust. Because they are the Gods of heaven, have power over all things and are the Authors of the Great Plan of Happiness, we have no reason to fear the future or fret about what will be.

Alma taught Helaman that "whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day" (Alma 36:3). Trusting God brings perspective. Trusting God brings family and social stability. And trusting God more fully equips us to trust our fellow man more regularly.

Our world could do with a healthy infusion of trust. As individuals, homes, congregations and communities learn to draw upon the enabling power of the Savior, the people of the covenant will be sanctified to love more purely, motivated to serve more passionately, strengthened to forgive more promptly and inspired to trust more consistently.

In so doing, we will have put in place a cornerstone of Zion, and a new day will dawn.

— Robert L. Millet is Abraham O. Smoot University Professor and Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University.