Honest Effort

Let’s be honest. Or is that even possible?

I ask that question because of my own self-doubt. And why do I doubt myself you ask? Because as hard as I try and as important as honesty is to me, if I take a hard look back at my life, I can see that I often fail. Sometimes it’s just little things, like telling someone I’m too busy to do what they want me to do when in reality I just don’t want to do it. Or I might have told somebody they look nice when the truth is they look like they just got ran over by a mac truck. Or perhaps (and I’ve done this more than once), I “spin the truth” to make the story more entertaining, or to make myself look better, or just to be funny. But the truth is, no matter how you spin it… it’s not the truth, unless it’s nothing but the whole truth, so help you God!

And there’s the problem. I can hide the truth from somebody, which is something I did recently, which I feel absolutely horrible about, which totally sucks, which makes me so mad at myself, which is why I am writing this message. But I can’t ever hide the truth from God!

So why not just be truthful at all times, about everything? If we were always truthful my guess is, we would be a lot happier. But it simply isn’t that easy. Try it sometime. Try going just one week without telling any type of small lie, big lie, white lie, or half-truth. Don’t exaggerate, spin, or embellish anything you say. Can’t do it? That’s okay. Try to complete one day of total honesty first. Once you have one day down, you might be able to turn it into two days. And if you keep at it and focus on it, you might make it up to a week. Who knows, maybe a month! The point is… if you focus on being honest, you’ll recognize it when you’re not… and recognizing the problem is the first step towards fixing it.

I believe in the importance of honesty and integrity and have worked hard at it and preached it my whole life. But in the interest of full disclosure, I fully admit that I have failed at times. The good news is… I recognize the problem and I’m working on fixing it. The great news is… with God all things are possible!

A lie gets halfway around the world 

before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.

~ Winston Churchill