I have a piece of wire on my desk almost perfectly 6 inches long, and for the benefit of Matt and Josh I am going to admit it's pink.

My wife brought it in and left it here, thank-you-very-much, so it's not my fault and you can't give me too much grief about it. Regardless, it's what the bulletin is about today, in a weird but wonderful way.

Its funny how you can use something in lots of different forms and while it hasn't fundamentally changed, very different uses of it becomes quite obvious. For instance, that wire could be coiled up a spring, that is exactly the right size to fit inside a broken toy I'm supposed to fix for my wife. That's not what it is, but a spring is still a wire. The wire still acts like a wire, it conducts electricity, bends, etc.

The piece of wire could be made into a shape, like those crazy rubber band things the kids all like (which do indeed seem silly to me, ha ha). Then I could trace it with my pencil and it would make the outline. That again doesn't change the property of it being a wire, just the way it fits into a situation. In other words, the wire is still true to being a wire, I haven't changed its properties.

The wire could be a stiffener for something else, perhaps a rubber toy (that is, unfortunately, pink) that is meant to flex and hold its shape. Like a Pokey or Gumby, although I suppose then it would be orange or green respectively. Maybe a very old and sun faded Pokey? But that's not what it is either.

The funny thing about a piece of wire is it could be the fundamental part of a LOT of things, and would lend its properties to each use you could come up with.

The truth, and being truthful, is much the same. You can use it in a lot of different situations, and it is still the truth. Some folks lie using the truth, by not using the whole truth, but I am not talking about that.

When you "spring" into action and live your life based on truth, no matter what job you choose to do you can live it honestly. The job you choose, the paths you take, can all be based on where the truth leads you.

The outline you live by may enclose the truth, and those who observe your life would see a pattern it, especially when they realize there were some things you were willing to close in with you, and other things you kept out. They might trace your life by your actions in truth and perhaps come to realize the shape you made reflects your creator, and see his image because of you. Nothing silly about that!

Of course the truth stiffens us up, and helps us keep our resolve. You might bend to situations that life throws at you, but you are held together sturdily by the truth which runs through the core of your life. Yes, the truth is the truth, and while we have it in our lives it helps our "conduct" be energized fundamentally in a Godly way. Rather than the world ripping us apart, we are held together. Speaking of which....

MY pink piece of wire, the one my wife gave me, holds things together tightly without damaging them. Being honest and clinging to the truth can help us hold things together, too, if we use it to live in the right way.

And by the way, in case you still haven't guessed, my wire is, in truth, a paperclip!

Randy