Honesty: Navigating Truth During the Holidays

Mid-Week Reflection is a great time to think about the role of honesty in our lives and how we can incorporate it more into our daily interactions.

Midway through the week, I’m honestly starting to wonder what in the world I was thinking choosing honesty as a reflection theme so close to Christmas. This is a season of family, love, and togetherness, but also pressure. Honesty tends to make things feel fragile, and it has a way of speaking up at the most inconvenient moments. Still, the intention has already been set. The calendar has filled back up, and whatever was sitting quietly beneath the surface has begun to show itself. Christmas is getting closer, expectations are rising, and the pressure to appear confident and settled can surface without warning.

If you are in the middle of a full season right now, this probably feels familiar. Reflection is not easy to prioritize in December. Starting something new during this time can make self-doubt feel heavier than usual, especially when learning curves and visibility collide.

That tension has been especially present this week as I step into a new role in higher education. Objectively, there is no lack of preparation. My degrees are earned. My experience is real. Capability is not the issue. And yet, doubt still shows up. Seeing that clearly has been grounding for me. Self-doubt is rarely logical. It often attaches itself to transition, comparison, and unfamiliar space.

What Stood Out to Me

While listening to The Gifts of Imperfection, Guidepost 9 on cultivating meaningful work landed hard. The conversation around self-doubt named something loud and persistent in my life. This is not a quiet insecurity. It shows up in conversations with my husband and family. It shapes how I speak, how I hesitate, and how I hold myself back. It is the kind of doubt that keeps your voice measured in meetings or makes trusting a bigger vision feel just out of reach. It is also one of the reasons I do not yet have a large YouTube presence.

Last week, the theme of listening revealed how quickly interpretation can replace invitation. In that reflection, I wrote about fitting God’s voice into predictable frameworks instead of letting Him speak as He truly is. Sitting with that again this week, I see how closely it connects to self-doubt. When I doubt my own ability to walk out what God may be inviting me into, I start to shrink the invitation itself. I box God in because I am unsure I can carry what He might ask.

What This Reveals About My Patterns

You may recognize that feeling. The sense that you should be doing more, but you do not know where to start. The hesitation to step forward because you are unsure who would trust you, or whether you are ready, or whether it is safer to stay with what feels familiar. If that resonates, you can revisit the Week Two reflection, Learning to Hear God Without Interpreting Him Through Myself, where this pattern first surfaced.

This same theme has appeared before in my writing, particularly in the series Maybe I’m Supposed to Create Anyway. That season revealed how self-doubt can sound spiritual, patient, or practical while quietly delaying obedience. Recognizing it again this week has been part of this honesty work. The tendency to interpret before trusting shows up in more places than expected.

You may notice this pattern in yourself as well, especially during the holidays. This season places us in rooms full of people, stories, and expectations. Without honesty, judgment slips in. Sometimes it is directed outward. Sometimes it turns inward. Reflection before gathering changes that posture. It creates humility. It softens comparison. It reminds us that everyone we encounter is carrying something unseen.

Another anchor this week has been T. D. Jakes’ message Naked and Not Ashamed. One truth continues to stand out. Before reactions can change, perception must be healed. That reframes the struggle. The issue is not ability or qualification. The issue is how the moment is being interpreted.

What God Is Inviting Me to Practice, Pause, and Release

Honesty helps separate fact from feeling. Discomfort does not cancel calling. Transition does not erase preparation. God meets us in learning curves just as faithfully as He meets us in confidence.

If self-doubt feels louder this week, pause with it instead of pushing it away. Ask yourself whether what you are feeling reflects reality or perception. Honesty creates space for humility. Humility makes room for grace, both toward yourself and toward others.

Proverbs 3 continues to steady this week.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.”

Trust does not require certainty. It asks for honesty. Direction follows when perception is surrendered.

Closing Prayer

Lord,
Thank You for meeting us in busy seasons and quiet doubt. Restore clarity where perception has blurred truth. Help us walk humbly, trust deeply, and extend grace to ourselves and others as we return to center.
Amen.