Truthfulness

by Adam Kronberger / Superintendent

There is a story that often gets retold at certain Kronberger gatherings. I was very young when my parents owned a dairy farm.  Each summer, they would put up their own hay for the cows to eat during the winter. It was hot, dusty, and dirty work. To this day, I disdain harvesting hay, especially stacking bales in an overheated oxygen-deprived barn. For some of the dirtiest work, farmhands might cover their mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and sometimes cover their itchy eyes with large goggles. One afternoon, the goggles were missing on our farm and they had last been in the possession of me and my older brother. The way the story goes, my dad stood me and my older brother in front of him and asked us which of us had taken the goggles. I would respond that I had no idea where they were, as did my brother. Then my dad would proceed to “discipline” my older brother who was usual suspect #1 in most cases, while I stood there untouched. Each time my brother would try to persuade me to remember how I had taken them, and each time it was he who received some “persuasion” from my dad. At some point, recognition dawned on my face as I exclaimed, “Now I remember! I took the goggles. I know right where they are!”

This month we are focusing on the character trait of truthfulness. Being truthful allows a person to earn future trust by accurately reporting past facts. Students’ relationships with others is based upon trust. The degree of trust often correlates to how truthful they have been in the past. Our relationship with God is quite similar. Jesus taught that “whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” He was revealing a principle showing that how we conduct ourselves in the small areas of our lives impacts the biggest areas of our lives. Nothing is more important than God’s calling for each of our lives. How our character develops directly impacts how God can trust us with the plans he has for us  (read Luke 16 to learn more about this interesting parable).

In all truthfulness, I do not remember the time I misplaced the hay goggles. Perhaps my limited long-term memory explains my limited short-term memory as a 5-year old. Still, I learned from that experience how truthfulness can affect how others trust you. I don’t know if my brother has ever gotten over it; he sure is eager to tell the story as often as he can! But I do believe I have learned how to consistently be truthful, and appreciate the trust placed in the school to disciple your children. May we be successful in teaching them the value of truthfulness this month. 

– Adam Kronberger / Superintendent