It is often hardest to be honest when it comes to our own weaknesses and failures—like confessing when we’ve done something bad, or to be honest that something is too difficult, and we need help.  The Jewish folktale of The Honest Disciple is helpful:

“Once a rabbi decided to test the honesty of his disciples, so he called them together and posed a question.

‘What would you do if you were walking along and found a purse full of money lying in the road?’ he asked.

‘I’d return it to its owner,’ said one disciple.

‘His answer comes to quickly, I must wonder if he really means it,’ the rabbi thought.

‘I’d keep the money if nobody saw me find it,’ said another.

‘He has a frank tongue, but a wicked heart,’ the rabbi told himself.

‘Well Rabbi,’ said a third disciple, ‘to be honest, I believe I’d be tempted to keep it. So I would pray to God that He give me the strength to resist such a temptation and do the right thing.’

‘Aha!’ thought the rabbi. ‘Here is a man I would trust.’”

If you have faith—in God’s ability to help you in your weakness and in the fact that, like the rabbi, your teachers want the truth from you more than they want perfection—then being honest in all things won’t be quite so hard.

Now, for the Friday Funnies:

Three men are in the middle of a desert when their car breaks down. For their hike to town, they each decide to take one thing with them.

One man takes a jug of water. The second man takes a sandwich. The last man takes one of the car doors. 

The first man says to the last man: “I’m bringing the water because if I get thirsty, I can take a drink. And it makes sense to bring a sandwich in case we get hungry, but why bring a car door?”

The last man replies, “If I get hot, I can just roll down the window.”

Have a wonderful day and weekend.