When He, the spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.

John 16:13

One of Priscilla’s more painful memories of childhood was the day her mother locked her and her younger brother out of the house for two or three hours. Fire ants stung Priscilla, so she knocked on the door, but her mother would not let her in.  Talking to Priscilla, I felt her intense anger toward a mother who could care so little for her children. How could a mother be so cruel?

A few years later, I asked Bill, Priscilla’s younger brother, if he remembered that incident. Yes, he remembered being locked out of the house for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. But he also told me about the wonderful  surprise the children had found when they reentered the house. Their mother had transformed their home into a birthday surprise party for Bill. Priscilla had never mentioned a party. Bill hardly remembered the pain. Priscilla only remembered the pain of being left outside, unprotected.

As a counselor, I learned an important lesson from these two stories. Both people told the truth; they just saw it differently. We see truth through such clouded “glasses” that a great deal of our bitterness may be based on misperceptions. But we find health by seeking truth and forgiving both our real and imagined abusers.

Thought:  I will seek the truth-seek to forgive-today.