LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE


have you ever lost the trust of a good friend? or caught them in a lie, or heard them lying to someone else and then lost your trust of them? or evading the truth... that's not LYING to someone, just not giving ALL of the details. and really, how can that POSSIBLY hurt someone? how can that affect someone to point that they won't trust me anymore? they're just little white lies after all!!!

why do we lie... or keep things from others? are we truly protecting them... or is it a selfish act because WE don't want to be uncomfortable in telling them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

okay, so you don't lie about the big things. you're not about to tell people that you have a million dollars in your bank account, or that you won the olympic gold medal in curling... but what about the small white lies like telling someone their make-up looks good when in reality they put too much foundation on that morning and now look like an oompa-loompa? what about if you are running late and you call the person to tell them and instead of saying you were being lazy and didn't get out of bed you tell them that traffic is really bad?

are these kinds of lies okay... because in reality, the lie doesn't really matter if it's as small as just not telling your father that you were out with "that boy" and instead tell him you were out with friends. are those lies only bad when you get caught doing it?

upon further inspection of myself, i believe that i have too often dabbled in "little white lie world" and just recently, "catching" a few of my friends in the same act has allowed me to see the harm and malice in a simple old "pieux mensonge."

we are not bad people. heavens, typically our motivation or impetus for such "little lies" is we are desperate not to hurt the people we care most about. we are trying to protect them from information or a situation that would be painful... so best to just sweep it under the carpet and not say a word. but truly, what could that do to a friendship that is so super important to me if they found out that i didn't say something to them or if i only told them "half-truths." am i worthy of trust, then? i would hate to think that i have friends out there that don't trust me very easily.

take jamie (the 10 year old) for example:

every time we play a board game, we are all on SUPER alert for any of his attempts to cheat.. sneaking extra money, going too many spaces on the board to aviod being sent to jail, your typical tricks to WIN and be the BEST! (we've all done it). but then, along comes the situation where he really didn't cheat... it just looked like it... then what?

i've tried to explain to him several times that it's because we've lost our trust in him. if he hadn't attempted to cheat SO MANY TIMES before, it would be so much easier to believe that he is honest-engine.

so what about me? am i honest engine... or do people have to watch my every move because they are afraid i'm taking one too many steps to avoid "going straight to jail without passing GO and without collecting $200."

recently in GENERAL CONFERENCE, bishop edgely gave a talk on this very topic and it's something i have been pondering all day. go HERE to read it... TRUST ME (pun intended) you will benefit from it's message.

well kids... i'm still learning. hopefully there won't be many more incidents where i will see the ugly affects of "little white lie world."

by the way: YOU LOOK GREAT TODAY! I PROMISE!