April is going merrily along. The air is fresh with the winds of spring. The Old Man walked gingerly in the Woods. Green is popping out all over. The wonderful world of nature does not deceive. It is who it says it is. Nature does not deceive. The Sun arises each day and warms the Earth. The young shoots of grass spring forth from the dark ground. The geese know where to be. The prose of spring is never skipped or altered. Nature follows the reliability of the universe.

It is easy to be fooled. ‘Fool me once…shame on me…Fool me twice, shame on you.’ Or, as former President Bush said, ‘Well, you should not fool me three times…’ So it is as we are told daily that they are simply not true. We receive information overload of the bad kind. Scam emails… phone texts… letters and more are a way of life in our modern world. While we are deciphering one lie…three more are waiting in the queue.

The Deception that hurts is the deception of a friend. Someone you care about. A person you can be yourself with and feel safe with. In later years, many feel safe with their favorite politician. Time normalizes what was once abhorrent. There is only one Christ…and it is not the President.

We open the door of our heart to people…sometimes the door gets slammed in our face. We are a part of their world…until we are not.

I had a good friend to whom I told that I do not change. I had seen so many reversals of friendships and allegiances that I felt sickened. I have worked in churches where I was accepted and welcomed…until I was not. It is a funny feeling to have friends turn their backs on you.

One day a brilliant smile…the next a distant gaze. Relationships are hard. Yet Christ told us to love each other without fear or favor. Love is the answer to our problems. Love is not an easy commitment. Love is grief and sadness…laughter and fun. Love is accepting another at their worst and thinking little of it. That would be the reason for the vow, ‘In sickness and in health.’

Beware the person who tells you they will make you rich with little effort on your part. Be careful of the person who tells you they love you before they know you. Success is incremental. Anything else is a heady psychedelic trip that leads to disappointment. When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The preacher promises the people wealth beyond their imaginations if they will give of their penury. The President promises healing in the mode of Jesus if you will believe his AI iconography.