Truth

Sometimes the truth hurts.
Sometimes the truth sucks.
Sometimes I don't want to hear the truth.
Sometimes I would rather skip the truth and move on to the subjects that don't hurt as much.
Sometimes I wish I could close my ears and my mouth and not hear the truth.
Because I've learned in my 28 years of life that the truth isn't always very nice to me or others around me.

There have been times when I have spoken the truth to someone I love, and it ruined friendships.
There have been times when I have spoken the truth to someone I care so deeply for, and I never heard from that person again.
There have been times when friends have spoken the truth to me and it cut me so deeply I wanted to throw them across the room.
There have been times when I spoke my heart, my most secret thoughts, my deepest desires and the person beside me ran away.

It is times like those when the truth hurts. When the truth sucks. When I wonder if I should have ever spoken at all.

But then I remember, "The truth will set you free" (John 8:32). Jesus spoke the truth and he was not well liked among many people. I am not striving to be hated, don't get me wrong, but I am striving to be more like Jesus, so it goes without saying that I must continue to speak the truth, accept the truth and listen to the truth.