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There are several definitions for the word truth. For this post, I’m using the following: That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. I was watching the final session of the January 6 Select Committee yesterday and it was remarkable that the committee made four criminal referrals, accusing a former president of the United States of America of Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Make a False Statement and “Incite,” “Assist” or “Aid and Comfort” an Insurrection. Every accusation is based on the antithesis of truth, fact, and reality. The Washington Post, through its Fact Checker Team, documented that former president Trump made 30, 573 false or misleading claims over four years. One would think that a public figure, with a profile as high as the POTUS, would work laboriously to tell the truth all the time.

I’ve heard it said that everybody lies. Honestly, I find that statement difficult to disagree with if we strictly apply the forementioned definition. We’ve all told someone that they looked fabulous (not fabulous, but nice) when they’re convinced that that new outfit has transformed them into one of the world’s most beautiful people. We don’t want to deflate their sight impaired sense of attraction. A little adjustment to what’s true, factual, and real hurts no one, right? Until they happen upon an honest purveyor of the truth, who tells them that they look perfectly dressed for an outing to a Friday night dog fight.

Truth is avoided by statements of commission and omission. It’s been that way sense the time of the garden. Depending on your spiritual orientation, or lack of any at all, you may have another benchmark moment when humankind’s propensity for lies debuted unto the stage of history. Of course, the preceding paragraph is meant with some jest, since the kinds of misrepresentation of the truth described are not sinister, or presented on a world stage, intended to hold onto power to preside over the government of an entire nation. When I think of sinister intent, the inventory of lies to commit crimes or to cover them up seems endless, and there are significant numbers of people in residence in our prison to prove that.

The truth is the quality of a word that makes us all feel good when we hear it; it’s often uplifting. There’s a Bible Scripture that says the truth will make you free (John 8:23). Of course, this scripture refers to the total truth of knowing Jesus as savior and accepting him over all other version offered of saving truth. However, even in a general sense, there is a relief and freedom that come from operating on a platform of truth. Truth provides a degree of comfort unsurpassed by anything else. Barring any mental incapacity to understand that the use of truth in all dealings provides one with every reason to walk with head held heigh, even when lies are placed before you.

Is truth that long-lost friend we look forward to seeing again someday? I prefer to think it’s the friend who’s still with us. The fact that some might try to hold it hostage is of measured importance. It will always raise its head because it’s reality and reality can’t be extinguished.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.