Some Ignore the Truth...Even When It's True

No Bull - courtesy of copyblogger

The setup for this blog is important, so please bear with me.

Our family recently attended a surprise 40th birthday party for a dear family friend. It was really a surprise since the wife of the unsuspecting honoree had arranged for their family (comprising four children) to be camping at an idyllic and isolated campground in a neighboring state.

She then invited several out-of-state families, including ours, to join the surprise Bday jamboree at the remote campsite’s dining hall.

There were about 60 of us in total, 40 adults and the rest were children. After the collective “surprise” and dinner, most of the kids went outside to play on an ultra-cool playground that was about 100 yards from the dining hall.

All of us adults remained inside and watched as the guest of honor quickly opened his few gag gifts and cards, while a few of the accomplice moms prepared the sheet cake for serving.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

After a little bit of time, three of the girls (including our eight-year old) came back inside and asked when the cake would be served – their timing was impeccable, since the dessert was being cut up and plated. So the trio told us, “Great, we’ll go tell the other kids.”

After that I lost track of the trio of “cake heralders” as I served coffee, until we were all seated together at the same table. The entire party laughed, caught up with each other’s latest news and indulged in the sugary confection [author’s note: I was gnawing on celery – blah!]. By all accounts, the cake was fantastic. So much so, some folks had gone up for second and third servings - soon the cake was gone.

Shortly thereafter several of the preteen boys came bounding back inside asking if it was time for cake. The boys were all literally devastated once they were informed that it was all gone, a few of the younger ones were moved to tears. Being a remote campsite, there were no other sweets for miles.

I asked my daughter and the other two “cake heralders” sitting with us what happened earlier when they went to tell the boys about the dessert being served. Together the girls choired, “We did tell them…they didn’t believe us. We tried and tried. They laughed at us. They told us, ‘Very funny it’s not being served so soon, you can’t trick us.’ They didn’t believe us and they kept playing on the jungle gym.”

And it struck me, how often times many adults similarly reject a message even when it’s the truth. They reject the message based on no reason other than they simply choose NOT to believe.

Ignoring the truth even when it’s true - it’s a little sad when it involves a child and a piece of cake, but it’s a catastrophic tragedy when it involves a child of God and eternity.

Is there a truth you’re rejecting, for no apparent reason?