Speaking the Truth

Maybe it's just me, but the truth seems hard to come by these days. Beyond the normal deceit of politicians or the "little white lie" about our dress size, the truth appears to be as rare and elusive as a Saturday afternoon nap. I'm talking about real truth. The painful kind. The kind that makes you think. The kind of truth that makes your heart do that flip flop thing.

Too often we are all running from the truth. If we can get one more credit card we can pretend that we can actually afford a lifestyle we've created for ourselves. If we wear the right clothes and get the right hairstyle we can convince those around us that we are confident and self-assured. If we go back to our class reunion with a thriving career it's ok if we omit the miserable failings in our relationships. And if we can pat people who are going through a hard time on the back and say "It will all be alright" then surely it will, right?

Well, I'm a recovering people pleaser, preacher's wife, hospice social worker, and mother of three. Unfortunately, most of the times when the truth has hurt me it has been because it's been handed to me in basket of anger, bitterness, jealousy,or carelessness. Despite my unfortunate run ins with the truth, I've learned something else about it along the way. It's necessary. In the same way I need to know if I have lettuce in my teeth or my jeans are too tight, I also need to know when I have areas to grow in. We all do. We could all wander around with food in our teeth and we could all continue to roam around acting immature, thoughtless, selfish, or a million other shortcomings we possess. But... here's the good news.

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ".

Ephesians 4:11-15

Isn't that wonderful? Speaking the truth in love is how we grow. It's how we become more like Christ. The same truth that bites and tears at us when spoken out of meaness, can encourage growth when spoken in love. That's what this page will be about. Everyday, the Truth changes my life and I hope to be an encourager to others who are seeking to "grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ."