My very good friend in high school, her mom used to say this when she suspected her kids were telling tall tales.
I am not a good liar. And I don't mind...most of the time. I know I'm not a good liar so, I don't try. I know that my mind can't keep track of all the tangles to tell a lie and I'd just be busted in the end, so why bother? More importantly, I don't want to lose my integrity. I don't want to lose your trust. That means more to me than anything else.
I value trust. Did you hear that? I said, I value trust. It takes a long time to gain my trust and to bust you in one lie, you may not gain my trust again. By again, I mean Ever.
I see so many people who...live beyond their means, who have to have whatever anyone else has, like this life is a competition - who can get the most first - whether they can afford it or not. Isn't that living a lie? Isn't that coveting? Isn't that a commandment?
Well..well...well...looky...there it is! #10
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Let me help you just a little further:
cov·et
verb (used with object)
1. to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others: to covet another's property.
2. to wish for, especially eagerly: He won the prize they all coveted.
verb (used without object)
3. to have an inordinate or wrongful desire.
I'm not saying I'm innocent, that I live my life in 100% accordance to the commandments either. I'm not saying any one commandment is of more value than another. I have plenty of my own to work on (that Lord's name in vain thing gets me every time!) I'm not saying we shouldn't have what we want and enjoy what we have.
I am saying, that I am really sick of the "I have", "we bought", "look at me" crap. I'm sick of people impressing their need for excess on others when at the end of the day, they truly do not have a pot to piss in. I'm saying, I do not care what my friends, family or neighbors have or better yet - don't have, and Dear Lord, I pray they don't give two shits about what I have!
I am saying that living beyond your means is living a lie. I am saying that by continually lying to me, I will never trust you. I am saying by living a lie, keeping up a false appearance, wouldn't that make your friends false too? If they only care about what you have? Or you about you for what you have? Sounds kind of shallow to me-e!
The things, the stuff, aren't important. It's the love and the truth, especially the truth, that's all that really matters!
Ahhh, this comes at a very interesting time for me. Just the other day I found myself (once again) coveting what others have. Whiny about how I wish WE could afford x, y, z.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I (figuratively) slapped myself in the face. Stop it! STOP. STOP. STOP. Look around you. Look at all the things you've been blessed with. A house. Food on the table. Clothing. Some people, very literally, do not have these things and here you are moaning about not being able to get a massage? Are you serious?
One of the reasons we were so happy to move away from Milwaukee is because of all of the "I have", "we bought", "Look what we got first" crap. I'm not saying it doesn't happen here too, but we were getting sucked in there and it was not a good thing. And every time I catch ourselves doing it again I feel like I need a swift kick in the butt.
Anyway, I'm rambling, but thank you, again, for the reminder.