What does one do with the truth? Do you grab the option of denial, focused on its veracity or even of its existence? Do you dally and toy with acceptance, wondering if there is a price that you must pay if you accept a framework shaped by integrity? Perhaps you cautiously reach out, tentatively accepting, wondering at its power, trembling at the price that is side by side, yet full of hope because you know that whatever the cost or what happens next, you have done the right thing.
I wonder about the truth I have seen in the past forty-eight hours. I wish I could say I seized the day, but at best the ideal response is only partially true. Most of the time I struggled to deal with what I could easily see and feel to be powerfully present in the moment. When the truth came with beauty and mercy the harsh reality only made my lack of responding even more painful!
It is rather strange to reflect on the truth that comes our way. You can see how uncomfortable it makes certain people, eyes darting this way and that during an interview, the restless shifting of someone caught in a powerful spotlight. The lack of a clear, open, public response is troubling because when it isn’t you the next steps seem blatantly obvious. Yet when confronted in the hell of my own creation I wonder if my behavior reflects the politician compromising to gain acceptance, the newspaper reporting borrowing from other sources or even the sports figure pushing the edges of rules’ boundaries.
In the story of old, Jesus replied to a question with the blunt force of truth. “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem.” (John 4.21) Those listening have still not come to complete terms with the message embedded in these words.
Today is our opportunity to change things; we can ride truth to a new life. The opportunity is there, for all of us.
