"What Happened Was..."

The Lord hates dishonest scales,
    but he is pleased with honest weights.

Proverbs 11:1

One of my favorite television programs is "Homicide Hunter, Lt. Joe Kenda."  The reason I enjoy it so much is because he has a way of stating things that makes sense to me.  For example, when he is conducting an interrogation and the suspect lies, the response from Lt. Kenda is "Really? Well My My My."  I told my bride that I would HATE to be the one who came to date his daughter.

But let's think about this for a moment.  How honest are you?  Are you one to skew the story to limit your culpability or are you willing to give, in the immortal words of Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday, "Just the facts."  We have a human habit of trying to minimize our errors, yet we want to aggrandize our successes (however small they may be).

One of the things I appreciate about my bride is her honesty.  I once jokingly asked her if my pants made me look fat...her response was "nope, it's all you're trying to stuff in them that does though."  

God does not like dishonesty in any form. (A "white" lie is still a lie).  Now I will say that there is such a thing as BRUTAL honesty which is intended to degrade someone else.  That is not the "honesty" I'm talking about.  If I make a mistake, bring it to my attention with courtesy, and I am more likely to listen and make adjustments.

And here's the kicker: Be more honest in complimenting and encouraging others than in correcting, and you will see a positive change.