I visited Georgia a few weeks ago. Some things never change. You can always get brewed sweet tea, fried okra, and a number of vegetables besides potatoes.
And there will be Kudzu!
Have you ever heard of Kudzu? It is a parasitic vine that snakes and snarls, climbs and coils until it has created a carpet covering absolutely everything. Kudzu is the cover queen! Perhaps young moms should introduce it in their children's rooms. You won't see their clutter of toys for years!
But covering is a temporary solution, sometimes with deadly results. Kudzu will cover a weed-infested, rusting abandoned car, machinery, trees, your patio table--it is no respecter of junk or jewel. It covers it all. Overnight. Kudzu covers about 2,500 acres annually. Some believe you can actually see it grow. Originally introduced from Japan for erosion control, Kudzo overstayed its employment opportunity. States were looking for a quick answer to erosion. You want quick? Kudzo is your best bet. Faster than a speeding bullet, able to cover entire buildings, it is Super-plant! Kudzu did its job only too well. While it secured unstable ground, it didn't know when to stop.
That's the problem with cover-ups.
They don't know when to stop.
It's true for us, too. Now I'm not for baring your soul just to clear your conscience or to make something someone else’s problem. I've worked with enough people who have lived with cover-ups all their lives. They've covered pain, insecurity, fears and they use perfectionism, control, silence, lies, and all sorts of coping techniques to do it.
Cover-ups hide truth.
They are intentional attempts to make others believe what you want to believe, that the wound isn't that bad or the sin didn't matter or that some wonderful end justifies just about anything, even if God doesn't agree.
Cover-ups kill. It's true with Kudzu. What lies beneath eventually dies or rots. Now, that's okay if it just means weeds. But Kudzu doesn't discern between good and bad. If it's there, Kudzu covers, suffocating the life out of anything it covers.
Cover-ups kill something in us, too. They kill our belief that truth frees. They kill God's ability to redeem. They suffocate the part of life God would make new.
Georgia may be winning the war on Kudzu. I didn’t see as much as I have in the past. Buried truth has surfaced. Georgia soil is really red!
David said it best—“you desire truth in the inner parts." (Psalm 51:6, NIV) Since God already knows the truth, trying to participate in any form of cover-up just seems foolish, don’t you think?
So here’s my prayer. Maybe you'll join me in praying it?