NEW LOOK

At the risk of negating everything I just wrote about in my latest post, I have decided to update the look of my blog a bit. A new look for a new year. Also, I hope to add a side bar of links (once I figure that out). I have been able to fix the problem of no one being able to make a comment that wasn't a blogger member. Now, anyone can make a comment and I encourage you to--good and bad. My goal is to get back into practice so that someone will actually hire me to do this again. Thanks for reading!

TRUTH

I can't turn on the TV or radio without being bombarded by false truths. Absolutes that "experts" claim in every subject imaginable. They usually are quite snippy and condescending about it. What happened to humble opinions?

Isn't it amazing how many people claim to know the absolute "truth" in some way or another? It could be in a very big, loud way like an actor who suddenly claims to have reached "Christhood" in a self-centered religion. Or a talk show host who denounces many public opinions as discrimination by being publicly discriminating herself.

These fake "truths" can be quiet, a whispering message we hear inside that is actually a lie. A big fat lie we buy to make ourselves feel better. Isn't that why all those people stand in line for hours to try out for American Idol only to sing like a toad and run, totally shocked, bawling into the arms of their mother who reassures them there is always next year? Okay, Monte and I have discussed this. We are all for encouraging our daughters to pursue their hearts desire--even when the odds are against them. I loved the movie Hoosiers as much as anyone, but as a parent, you pretty much know the ugly truth that your child sings like a toad, don't you? Isn't it our responsibility to support their strengths and steer them into a non-vocally musical career path? Isn't honesty ALWAYS the best policy?

That's the tricky part about truth and lies. The truth can be so painful and ugly and stinky. Lies are so easy and pretty and delicious smelling. And why not? They are wrapped up in shiny paper, dipped in chocolate and sold to us with leather interior, German engineering, hardwood floors, granite countertops, Italian sling-backs, control tops, non-fat half-caff lattes, mango martinis, golf memberships and 52 inches of high definition satellite-beamed entertainment. They are well-read, well-educated, politically correct, environmentally aware, organic lies. Oh, I'm guilty. I've been seduced by the sweet aroma of things I thought would make my life easier or improved in some way. But they always turn out to be an unfulfilled lie. No doubt I am listening intently to some nagging untruth right now and will fall for something, sometime again…and again…and again. That's our plight. We are only human.

Fashion is one of those culprits. I've rejected fashion most of my life (big surprise). It's not the least bit interesting to me (except for shoes). I know it's the career path of some and good for them. I just don't buy the shows on TV or articles in magazines that tell you what you shouldn't and must never wear. Skinny jeans aside (seriously, no one over a size 0 should EVER wear them), why can't people wear what's comfortable for them? As long as they are appropriate, why should we care if we are--gasp--wearing something from last year's winter line? I have sweaters older than my children--wait--older than my marriage. Isn't that what classics are--things that stand the test of time?

My grandfather had a very specific way of dressing. He always wore these light colored jeans and shirts with bands around the waist. He had a few favorites that we could always count on him wearing. They were as comfortable to him as his hugs were to me. When he died, my grandmother took some of his clothes to a woman who wonderfully sewed them into memory bears. My bear sports one of his favorite shirts and those great, light-colored jeans. That bear is so him that I smelled it when I first got it expecting it to fill my nose with the nostalgic smell of PaPa's hair cream and cinnamon. But it didn't. Some things just can't be copied.

Can you imagine if my grandfather tried to "copy" every latest fashion trend? What if every time I visited him he sported a new trouser style: cuffs, no cuffs, pleats, flat front? What if his hair was always in a different style or (ugh!) color? What if (fighting growing older) he got his ear pierced? (that thought freaks me out!) How do you make a memory bear out of a fad? Where's the truth in something that's temporary? He was a constant for me. Neverending, non-changing love. I knew what he believed and believed in how he lived. He wasn't starry-eyed or driven to climb ladders to success. He lived in this world not of it. A farmer that simply cultivated the seeds he planted. And it brought him such joy. It shaped me.

But I still get so confused! You can find false truths in so many things like food: is organic really better? What's up with artificial sweeteners? And baby products: will certain name brand car seats really kill your kids? Are generic diapers any different than their more expensive competitors? And raising children: will spanking actually scar them for life? Will setting enforceable boundaries suffocate their spirit? And the news: are they telling us the real story--or the one they have chosen to believe?

The dictionary defines truth as the true or actual state of a matter; conformity with fact or reality; a verified or indisputable fact; honesty and integrity.

It's hard to find the truth when we think we are hearing it on every channel. I like the phrases INDISPUTABLE FACT and HONESTY and INTEGRITY in truth's definition. Apply those to your life and see where you end up. Finding indisputable truth with integrity is what we're here for. It's bowing your head and asking for help when you have no idea what to do and especially at those times when you believe you do. It's seeking Godly truth versus worldly truth. That's what my grandpa did. And it's worth turning off the TV and radio to find. But that's just my humble opinion.