Our backyard has once again morphed into a jungle. In the beginning of the season, my perennial gardens start out looking controlled, contained and cared for. By the time it is mid-growing season, the plants have spread and are all over the place. In addition, the weeds have sprung up over night. One of the problems in trying to pull out those weeds or at least to contain them is that they grow incredibly close to the plants I want to keep. In fact some, like the morning glories have become so intwined with my butterfly bush, roses, bee balm and peonies that I cannot yank out the morning glories without doing some damage to those other plants.

This past weekend my husband and I watched Mrs. Wilson, a three episode “mini series” on Masterpiece theater on PBS. What I find fascinating is that it is based on a true story that happened not too long ago. The story begins with the death of a conventional loving husband who leaves behind a distraught wife and two sons. What begins to unfold is the story of his life, his many wives and children and the deception that he conveyed. While he was a published author (23 books), there are questions to ask if his behavior was all a cover for his spy activity for the British government. As with all intrigue and subterfuge, every statement or fact is questioned whether to its truth or not. One wonders was he really a spy or just a pathological liar?

Closer to home in geography and time, I know of a couple of people who either were children of a deceptive parent with other families or wives of deceptive husbands who juggled simultaneously multiple families.

It makes me think of the concept of lies and truth. In all the thrillers that I have seen, when prepping a person for deception the “handler” explains that if one wants to lie, it is best to stick somewhat to the truth and deviate just slightly. Supposedly there is less error to be tripped up by trying to remember all the details. By slightly veering off the truth course, the information imparted is seemingly more believable.

Ahh. Doesn’t the father of lies just love how we justify deceit. Nothing is new under the sun the Hebrew wiseman suggests. “Go ahead and eat the apple,” the snake advises Eve. “You are not going to die,” he tells her.

In one sense, that is partly true. Eve and Adam did not die after eating the apple but, they did kill their open, innocent, shame-less, face-to-face relationship with God. Their physical bodies became the expression of their spiritual sin and through their disobedience caused them (and us) to experience hurts, illnesses, pain and eventually physical death.

So, “No. Mr. Serpent”, they didn’t die but it brought forth human tragedy.

I feel that as a society we are still experiencing the tragedy of half-truths and bold lies. Falsifications that appear to be quite close to the truth but are not. Falsifications which puts us, as a society, in a position of hurt, pain and even death for ourselves and for others.

Lies and truth seem to be on the front page of the news every day. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum or from which news source you get your information- all news seems to report half-truths. It is very rare to find some source that reports “just the facts” from all angles. In some instances, what is reported are blatant and bold-faced lies. Even then, one wonders if the refuted “facts” are true? The cry, “fake news” is in itself fake news.

How do we cut through to the truth? Is it like my trying to entangle the morning glory from my butterfly bush? Will there be loss of integrity in the process? Do I just let the morning glories stay entwined and not pull it out until the fall? There is a parable by Jesus: a farmer planted wheat and unbeknownst to the farmer, his enemy went at night and planted weeds among the seeds. When the wheat sprung up, so did the weeds. When the farmer was asked if the weeds should be pulled, the farmer replied to wait until the harvest lest the wheat plant be pulled up along with the weed.

In discovering truth we might have to pull the weeds and suffer damage- as was the case with Mrs. Wilson. Innocent people can get hurt when the truth is exposed. Yet we know that the truth sets us free. It frees us from guilt and shame. It can set us up for forgiveness- both to be forgiven and to forgive.

At other times we need to let things be, let the weeds and the wheat develop, to wait until harvest time when the true plant (truth) can be separated from the weeds (lies) which will then be destroyed. Sometimes by waiting, the true nature of the situation or person is exposed without having to try and convince another about it. Like the old adage, “The truth will come out in the wash,” in the due process of time, truth will be revealed.

It still can be difficult to stay the course for truth, both in our individual lives and in our society because lies by nature and definition, are very close to the truth. It is hard to ferret it out. For myself, I try to use Biblical teaching as my litmus test to Truth- what does God say about the current situation, specifically and/or fundamentally? What is the true motivation behind the story? What is being camouflaged? What is the emotional, “fluff” of the discussion? What is the essence of what is reported?

What about you? How do you suss out the truth? Do you pull out it regardless of the cost? Has there been collateral damage in the process? Have you been set free by truth? What lies have you heard? What lies have you told? What information with the passing of time have you found to be true or not?

One thing that always occurs to me as I am weeding: if I had kept on top of the weeding from the beginning, I would have destroyed them when they were manageable. That is the other thing with lies. They need to be stopped as soon as they are uttered. If not, they will grow and grow until there is no other recourse than to destroy everything.