"The Ring of Truth"

I like the saying: it just had "the ring of truth." The ring of truth is the word behind the words, the sense in the statement that what is said partakes of the truth. And, over the years we all develop our own sense of "the truth." We listen to a person tell a story, or a preacher preach a sermon, or a politician give a speech, or a witness testify in court, or one our own family members give an explanation of his or her conduct; and, we get a sense often that we have either touched truth or falsehood. There are times, of course, when we feel like we've gotten a dose of both mixed together and it takes some time to sort that out. And, no matter how often I have been wrong with my sense of what "rings true" and what doesn't "ring true" I cannot be convinced that my ability to distinguish truth from falsehood is not better than average. Of course, everybody thinks that his or her sense of what is true is better than average!

Of course, if there was no deception and the truth was always told, that wouldn't be such a problem, because then discernment of truth from falsehood wouldn't be so important. But, deception does occur regularly, and lies are told regularly. And, as the prophet Jeremiah says: "The human heart is deceitful above all things." Which gets to an even more difficult problem: we can't even seem to tell the truth to ourselves. That being the case, it is hard to get it told to others!

This worrying about truth and falsehood both in our world and in my self has been a real worry for me. This, to me, is the existential situation that drives me, disturbs me, inspires me, and out of which I cry out for the saving help of the One who is true, who is not deceived, who does not deceive, and who speaks truth into our worlds of falsehood and who creates truth out of the ground of falsehood.

My Dad used say: "you can't make apple pie out of horse shit." And, that saying covered a lot of ground, and made sense of a lot of things for me. And, Dad was applying that to what we humans could do and couldn't do within the limitations of this earth.

But, as Jesus said to his disciples: "what is impossible for human beings is possible for God." And, I have really come to believe that God can take the "horse shit of our lying and deceiving and deluded selves" and somehow plant truth in the middle of it and grow something really worthwhile. If we realize our lying and identify it as "horse shit," then perhaps we can use it to fertilize the truth God has planted in our hearts. And, as Dad might have said: "there are a couple of good uses of horse shit, but one of them is not as an ingredient of apple pie." The example of deception and lying can be a helpful example if it is a warning of what not to do, but if it is sold as an ingredient of a way to live, well - just remember the saying my Dad taught me: "you can't make apple pie out of horse shit!"