“The Truth”

What do you do when you’ve been wronged?

This week, Prince Harry’s memoir Spare hit the shelves. It’s a “tell all” not only on his younger years and terrible grief over his mother’s death, but also his version of the tumultuous events of the last 3 years. The book, coupled with the Netflix series “Harry and Meghan”, has raised eyebrows and opinions. The more cynical suggest that money is a greater motivator than “the truth”. Others are sympathetic.

But whatever the Duke and Duchess’ motivations – money, vindication, revenge, reconciliation – their hurt seems real to me.

And hurt is quite a motivator. There have been times in my life – and I’m sure yours too – when I’ve felt deep pain because of things done to me. Faced with this pain, I’ve wanted to call everyone I know and give them my side of the story, plaster their misdeeds on social media.

I’ve wanted, no, I’ve *needed* the truth to be known.

But there’s another side to the coin. Invariably, not everyone sees your “setting the record straight” as the noble cause you thought it was. As with Harry and Meghan, these truth bombs can just add fuel to the raging fire of human dysfunction. So what do we do with our hurt?

While truth and justice – though imperfect – are always worth pursuing here and now, in these seasons of my life I have clung to something I believe: that everyone will be held accountable for their actions by a loving, all-knowing God.

I know this sounds scary and foreign to some – even evil to others. But in those moments where everything in you is crying out for justice you know you’ll never get, human accountability to a God who loves us is a vast comfort.