Reflect
Over a century ago, Mark Twain created the character Huckleberry Finn, a poor orphan who had been blessed (or cursed) with an innate sense of right and wrong, which was often in conflict with the accepted norms of his day. Although he was less than comfortable when taken to church, he later came to understand that prayer required a person to speak truthfully. When Huck was feeling pressure to write a letter that would tell the authorities where to find the escaped slave Jim, he had an inspired moment when, wanting to tell on Jim and “do the right thing,” he prayed, came to his senses, and said: “Deep down in me I knowed it was a lie. . . . You can’t pray a lie—I found that out.”
Pray
O Lord,
With the psalmist, I pray that, today, your Spirit
will search my thoughts, will know my anxious ways,
and will grant me the wisdom to discern the offensive lies
that are told to me and that I am prone—through fear
and lack of courage—to tell myself.
Amen.
Act
As you navigate your day in an age of information that does nothing to sort truth from lies, pray Psalm 139:23–24 to be receptive to the Spirit’s guidance into all that is true and loving and kind.
