Little Lies

"Hi, Dad," Zander said as he entered his father's workshop. "Can you help me build a birdhouse now?"Dad looked up. "I'm ready if you are. Let's pick out some wood." He led the way to the bin of scrap wood. "I thought you were playing with Landon today.""He left," said Zander. "I wanted to do this, so I told him I had homework to do."Dad frowned as they carried several pieces of wood over to the workbench. "You mean you lied to Landon?" "Not really. I do have homework, but I'll do it after we finish the birdhouse.""But you purposely led Landon to believe that you were going to do the homework now. That's a form of lying, Zander."Zander shrugged. "Well, what was I supposed to say? 'Go home. I don't want to play with you anymore'?" He handed Dad a board. "Anyway, it was just a little lie. It won't hurt Landon's feelings or anything. He'll never know.""All lies hurt the people who tell them," said Dad. "You could have just explained that you wanted time to work with me before doing your homework." He held up the piece of wood Zander had just handed him, and using both hands, he easily cracked it in half. Zander watched, wide-eyed. "Look closely at this wood," said Dad, holding the pieces out to him.Zander looked and saw several tunnels crisscrossing through the place where it had split. "Wow! I guess those tunnels made the wood weak. I could probably have split it myself! What caused that?""Possibly carpenter ants," said Dad. "They eat away at wood until it's weak and easily breaks apart." He looked at Zander thoughtfully. "Ants are little, but they can do a lot of damage. Lies are like that too. Lies--even so-called little ones--eat away at our truthfulness. As Christians, we're called to be like Jesus, who always tells us the truth, and His truth transforms us. He gives us the power to be truthful too so our lives point to Him and His love for us."Zander was startled. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "Should I text Landon and tell him to come back?" He thought about it a moment. "That's what I'll do. He can help us with this birdhouse!" –Daryl B. Knauer