Honesty Day | JOY for Today

(Updated 3/28/2024)

Yes! Let's celebrate honesty. While honesty may not immediately bring JOY, the truth is it builds the foundation for trust, and a relationship built on trust sets a solid foundation for JOY. Let's make the commitment to work on honest communication within every relationship. We need all the JOY we can get!

Honesty Day | April 30th Annually

Honest Offerings:

• Did You Know... Five facts about Honesty Day that we didn't know.
• Wolfe Stew Connects To the importance of honesty.
• Bible Verses and Quotes About honesty.
• Activity Suggestions Prepare to practice honesty in relationships, with yourself, and in your classroom. Discussion questions and family challenge.

UPCOMING HOLIDAYS:

• National Day of Prayer (May's First Thursday)
• Star Wars Day (May 4th Annually)
• Mother's Day (May's Second Sunday)

Did You Know:

1. Honesty Day's date is strategically chosen to balance out April Fool's Day? By ending the month with honesty, M. Hirsh Goldberg (creator of Honesty Day) believed it would help us end April on a "higher moral note" (Washington Examiner). 
2. The creator of Honesty Day wrote a book about lies? The book is titled The Book of Lies: Fibs, Tales, Schemes, Scams, Fakes, and Frauds That Have Changed the Course of History and Affect Our Daily Lives and explores how commonplace lying is in our society (Washington Examiner).
3. Honesty Day's creation was meant to animate a cultural shift?  The author, ten years after the book's publication, noted that our cultural fascination with deceit and deception continues to darken our nation. Goldberg's hope is "that by celebrating honesty and honoring the honorable, we can begin to restore trust within our nation and encourage a greater sense of integrity within ourselves" (Washington Examiner).
4. We lie most often to people we know well when talking to them face-to-face? Tony Docan-Morgan, a Communication Studies professor at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, studied lies told by participants over 91 consecutive days and found that 79% of the lies told were face-to-face with 51% to friends and 21% to family (Currents).
5. People who almost never lie are consistent in their honesty?  The same study found that while most participants do not lie often, less than 2 times a day, variation in the number of lies told fluctuates significantly on a day-to-day basis. The group with the least variation were participants who lied less than 1% of the time, or almost never, while the prolific liars fluctuated the most (Currents).

Read more about Honesty:

• "The Need to Celebrate Honesty" by M. Hirsh Goldberg at Washington Examiner.
• "How often do people lie?" by Tony Docan-Morgan at Currents: A University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Blog

We'd Love to Know:

Do you consider yourself mostly honest?

Wolfe Stew Connects

Honesty was one of the first attributes I valued in my husband. From the beginning, he would share (sometimes bluntly) his honest opinion regarding any topic. I never had to worry about him telling me I looked great when he didn't believe it, that my idea made sense when it was preposterous, or that my cooking was phenomenal when it was inept. While candidness can sting, I would much rather know the truth than continue in a lie.

Now, I'm not saying the Mr. is a saint who never lies; we all lie from time-to-time. I've learned when he is dishonest it is most often to spare my feelings or the feelings of another. I still work at convincing him I always prefer the truth, even if he thinks it will hurt me.

For me, dishonesty presents as lies I tell myself. Destructive lies that inhibit. My personal list of inadequacies and distortions that play on repeat in my head.

Whether personal or relational, honesty is vital to building trust or completeness. Lies lead to shaky foundations and wavering expectations. That's why it's good to know there is a someone you can trust, a someone who will never lie, who only builds firm foundations, and who has unchanging expectations. That someone, friends, is Jesus: the TRUTH (John 14:6). He's working on His end; won't you fight for Him and work to build trust on yours?

If you want to fight to grow in TRUST with us, we'd love to have you. We've crafted a GROWTH for Today calendar that aims to help you grow in trusting Jesus. Each day features a short, but impactful, activity built around learning to trust that God is who He says He is and that we can trust His promises. If you can grow in this area too, join us. Welcome to the FIGHT, Warrior!

We'd Love to Know:

Where honesty ranks in your list of desired attributes?

Bible Verses and Quotes about Honesty

Verses

• "Do not tell lies to one another. You have stopped being the person you used to be who did wrong things." Colossians 3:9 WE
• "If you want a happy, good life, keep control of your tongue, and guard your lips from telling lies." I Peter 3:10 TLB
• "Be honest and you will be safe. If you are dishonest, you will suddenly fall." Proverbs 28:18 GNT
• "Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be found and brought to light." Luke 8:17 GNT
• "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32 NIV
• "In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable." Philippians 4:8 GNT

Quotes

• "Every lie is two lies, the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it." - Robert Brault
• "Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people." - Spencer Johnson
• "Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself." - William Shakespeare
• "It takes strength and courage to admit the truth." - Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid
• "When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth." - Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runne

We'd Love to Know:

Which verse or quote means the most to you?

Honesty Activity Suggestions

Celebrate honesty! Consider where you most struggle with honesty and commit to working toward improvement. Encourage your learners by modeling honesty for them and open the dialogue by engaging in the classroom activities.

In Relationships

• Set the other person up for success. When asking a difficult question, prepare them for it. Let them know that you want an honest answer. Provide time and space so they can examine their thoughts and prepare an honest answer. Reassure them that no matter how they answer, you still care about them. And when they do answer, listen. Only ask questions to clarify. Thank them for their honesty. Then, give yourself time to process before you respond.
• Don't say (or do) something, you don't really mean (or want to do). Often, we tend to agree and go along with others to keep the peace. But it's actually a harmful practice. Before you respond to a question, chime in with your opinion, or go with the flow, think about if what you are saying or doing aligns with your beliefs.
• Be brave. Recognize that many times we lie because we are afraid. But in reality, the truth is necessary for growing healthy relationships.
• Forgive and apologize. Know that mistakes will happen. But, when you recognize a mistake has been made, admit it. Then work toward correcting it. If you've been wronged, work toward forgiveness while being honest about your feelings.
• Read more honesty building ideas at Psychology Today's article, "5 Ways to Build Trust and Honesty in Your Relationship," by Lisa Firestone, Ph.D.

With Yourself

• Use Philippians 4:8 to keep your thoughts in check. As thoughts run through your head and stampede toward your heart, capture them. Test them against the Philippians 4:8 qualities: Is this thought true? Noble? Right? Pure? Lovely? Honorable? Then, reshape the thought so it does reflect these qualities. Finally, fill your mind with the good, praiseworthy thought and thank God for it.
• Solidify your personal beliefs and practice communicating them - but be open to changing them. Knowing what you believe in is key to knowing who you are. And we need you, the real you, not the "you" that you want us to see. Don't be afraid to express your true position on things. It's okay if we don't agree. In fact, we need to not always agree; that's how change happens. But always accept that the change needed might be in you.
• Practice humility. When someone else speaks the truth about you, be willing to acknowledge and accept it as true. If it is a hard truth, be thankful that you can now work on it because of the honesty of another. If it is a complimentary truth, allow the truth to sink in, thanking God for who He made you to be, but without letting it go to your head.
• Read, "How to Be Honest with Yourself," by Suzanne Kane at PsychCentral.

In Your Classroom

• Learn about Honesty Day with ESL Holiday Lessons. Complete cloze, spelling, vocabulary, discussion, comprehension, and writing activities focused on the topic of Honesty Day's history.
• Read The Boy Who Cried Wolf from Fables of Aesop or read your favorite picture book version.
• Play "A Game of Honesty and Lies" with this Values Education lesson plan. Print this "Snake and Ladders" gameboard from Printable Board Games if you don't already have one of your own.
• Play Telephone (described at Icebreaker Ideas) to observe how lies grow when gossiping. 

Would You Rather...

• You nose or ears grew every time you lied?
• Only be able to shout lies or whisper the truth?
• Be honest about something that gets you or someone else in trouble?

Family Challenge

List situations when telling the truth is damaging, either to yourself or others.. Discuss techniques to gracefully decline answering someone who asks about something you don't feel comfortable sharing. Give each family member a list of the brainstormed situations. Throughout the week ask family members tough questions inspired by the brainstormed situations. Encourage the person you ask to respond by politely, but honestly, refusing to answer.

We'd Love to Know: 

One tip you have for practicing honesty.

We’re excited to share one more day with you and wish you JOY for Today and HOPE for Tomorrow. Check in next week for...Star Wars Day!

Fighting the Good Fight with You,

Sample these related posts:

To implement discussion norms in your classroom.

To address gossiping.

To speak kind and honest words.

To find a middle grade chapter book that encourages honesty.

To craft a visual reminder inspired by truth.

Find even more JOY for Today in our monthly calendars, holiday, and seasonal posts.

Image credit: Cave at pxhere.