A little lie here, a slight exaggeration there, it is as if something changes in our souls when we spend our days covering up the truth.
I have always struggled with exaggerating. Whether it is the creative in me, the performer, the people pleaser or just the lover of life. One thing that marriage has forced me to confront is this area of my life. Over the last few years I have been trying so hard to keep things real.
Real simple,
Real honest,
Real open.
It is like the days that I tell untruths, everything in my world dulls a little. Lies make me feel unsteady and I walk away from a conversation feeling cloudy.
How about you?
There is nothing worse than that sinking feeling when we are in a conversation and we are pretty sure that we are not getting the whole story.
That same feeling happens when we are not completely honest, it’s like we detach something from our true selves.
Every time we lie, we create a different version of ourselves and we feel like we are living in a foreign body.
Every time we are vulnerable and face the truth, when we are honest, when we say it just how it is (no matter the reception), it is like we reconnect with our true selves.
Are you living a life that is not congruent to your truest self?
Do you struggle to say things just as they are out of fear of rejection?
Proverbs 12: 19 would say this to us both;
“Truth lasts; lies are here today, gone tomorrow.”
or this from Proverbs 21: 6
“Wealth created by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist and a deadly trap”
and this one from Proverbs 12:22
“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.”
The more we lie, the more we leave out details that bring the full picture, when we are silent when we should actually speak, when we speak things about someone that are just not true, we discolour the beauty of the opportunity in our present.
Every time we fess up, every time we say it just how it is, every time we softly say no that’s not right, it is like a light shines from within and the colourful beauty in the moment is released.
Wisdom knows that honesty as difficult as it can be sometimes stops a whole lot of pain down the road.
Wisdom asks that we speak less and when we do to always speak in truth.
A woman of wisdom lives an honest life, even when it hurts.
She knows that every time she hides behind a lie, she is not only hurting those around her, but is building walls between living a fully authentic life.
We cannot be vulnerable and strong, we cannot live authentically and purposeful, if we are always trying to remember what version of ourselves we have told someone.
A liar may succeed in the beginning but eventually their true colours shine, business associates become distant, family and friends never know if the conversation that they are having is complete and in the end they are not trusted.
May we all be okay with weakness, may we all be okay with failure, may we all create cultures around us that celebrate honesty and authenticity. If we do not do this, we will find that people around us will start to lie, because none of us can ever live up to the measures of perfection.
Every time we get honest, it will have consequences but will always set us free.
To read more: She has hope even when there is not much left to hope for
