Sincerity in Truth

Just a moment's break from life.

Breath. Think. No, don't think. Just pause.

Two thoughts. First, be real. Clear the air around you. Clear your mind. Swipe away those cobwebs and maybe have a giggle about your coworker tripping on the stairs or something. Relax.
Second, ask a question. When did you last say something true?

When did you last say something true, and when did you last recognize a specific truth?
When did you last stand up for something true?
When did you last become strongly convicted of a truth?

Let these memories rise in you. Be in that place, that time, that emotion.

What was it about that truth that stuck with you? What was it that caused such a reaction in you?
Was it beauty? Was it injustice? Was it something you could empathize with? Did it effect many people?

I feel that many of us do not realize just how influencial truth is in our daily lives. Moment by moment, day in, day out, we are either affirming and asserting truth, or denying or sliding by truth. It is a black and white world. Sometimes the truth is that there are more than one good choices, or more than one bad, and so it would seem there is a gray area. Yet in reality, there is always a way to clear the fog and get the wind moving again, and to then see the truth in it's full light.

I believe awareness of the truth is much like a habit - we form an appetite for it, or a "sense" for it, similar to how we sharpen our peripheral vision once we begin driving. The more we allow our minds to regroup and refocus in various situations, the more we will learn how to sift through the silt in the water and find the diamonds that are buried there.

My hope is to encourage us all to consider each day whether we are building up our truth- gaining ground in the ever-going uphill climb - or whether we are chipping away at the foundation day in and day out. "Little white lies," exaggerations, "jokes" that are never clarified, blurring of the lines of what happened and what we want others to think happened... we all fudge the truth whether we're aware of it or not. The question is, how often do we mean for this to go on, and how often would we go back and clean up our mess if we could? If we decide we want to be people of sincerity, then we need to act like it. This means striving to be aware of the truth and to recognize it, and represent it in its fullness without all of our convenient alterations.

Clearly this isn't always possible, and we can face conflicting truths such as "such and such law" that isn't really just or fair, that if we fudge a little on, we won't be cheated, or we won't be ripped off, etc... Those tough calls we have to decide for ourselves which truth our conscience will be held accountable to. But no matter what, the most important thing is to see it for what it is. Call a spade a spade, not a shovel, not a drill, and certainly not a hammer or nail.

"Don't blatantly lie, don't indirectly lie, and most of all, don't lie to yourself," might be an acceptable creed. Once we allow ourselves to believe lies, we begin to live according to them, and then when we speak them to others or treat others according to our belief that some lie is true...we lose something very precious. We lose reality. Truth is more than a valiant moral code, or a noble ideal for the hopelessly dreamy romantics (although that definitely counts)...it is the air around us, the ground we walk on, the blood coursing in our veins. Truth is undeniable, inevitable, innate, inherent. To exist is to be real. To exist is thus to exist in the truth. We cannot get rid of it even if we wanted to, and to live a life of continually snubbing the truth or outright rejecting it only leads to sadness and despair. No matter how powerful we are, we cannot control the truth. It is bigger than anything we can create or develop. We are born into this world without the option of where we are or even who we are...life itself is a gift given that is unanticipated. So we have to accept that the truth is the ever-present glue of the universe we exist in.

I hope and pray I will continue to challenge myself beyond my weaknesses into greater truth. It is so easy to find shelter in the rationalizations that make the truth a little blurry. The fuzzy truth is sometimes so much more preferable to the hard truth. One is cuddly, the other..isn't. Yet, no life remains wholesome when fuzzy is the foundation. We face a lot of bumping, bruising and falling if we're going to stand on fuzzies for the rest of our lives. We need solid, we need strong, we need real.

Of course I'm going to add that it is Christ who is the Truth, and therefore all the fullness and life-giving joy that we can encounter in our existence is found when we seek him with our whole hearts.

Let us sincerely desire to be in the Truth, and to never be parted from Him.