Five Minute Friday: Truth
I am late posting for Friday...we are all getting over a nasty cold here. Thankfully everyone is up and bouncing today!Link up with Lisa-Jo Baker. The only rule is you go to the person that linked up before you and encourage them in their writing. That’s it. The gift of encouragement – pass it on. Love it. We all need it. We should offer it more often.
Truth.
Like a foul tasting cough syrup, truth can often be hard to swallow. This week we have spent a lot of time discussing truth. My daughter has been going through a bout of lying...
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Those aren't my barbies those are TinTin's.
I didn't color on the walls, TinTin did.
Hector ate my homework folder...
All kids do it. As we discussed truth I struggled to come up with a definition that would register with her literal mind. The dictionary itself uses the word true to define truth.
I tried truth is what is fact. And my five year old pointed out that some truths, like religion, are not facts. I guess living in a household where her Dad is one religion and I am another has shed light on this to her early.
I tried truth is what is right to you. And my five year old told me that what is right to me isn't always right to her. That I might feel one way and she might feel another. And that if truth was the way we felt then neither of us could ever lie as long as we always spoke from our heart.
And I got stumped. Because in a sense she is right. We may not always like what other people have to say or the way other people might feel. We might be ashamed of the way that we feel or what is boiling within us to say. According to my five year old, this is why we lie. There are days I think she is too smart for her own good.
We finally settled on that truth is not lying. And that lying is not being honest about the way that you feel or bending the facts to suit you. While very similar to what I tried to tell her truth is, there is a slight, more literal, difference.
And like a foul tasting medicine, truth is necessary to swallow. It is necessary to address and talk about. It isn't something you hide or hold back because doing so will only prolong your misery.
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And as we finished our conversation about truth my daughter said to me, "Don't forget about rainbows." Asking her why, a bit perplexed, she responded, "Without truth there would not be rainbows, and rainbows make the world a brighter more colorful place."
From the mouth of a child to the heart of a mom.
What does truth mean to you?
