How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! (Proverbs 1:17)

Our attempts at secrecy and subterfuge are seldom as subtle as we'd like to think they are.  We like to pretend that we're oh-so-sneaky -- when in fact we're subconsciously broadcasting our feelings and motivations, making them obvious to others even if they're not completely apparent to us, ourselves.

An obvious example that comes to mind is my children, pretending to be secret agents.  If we're ever walking back from the grocery store to our house, my kids like to lag a few steps behind, running from lamppost to lamppost, hiding behind trees and cars, suppressing giggles at how "clueless" I appear to be.  Sometimes, I'll hear shuffling footsteps and then make a big show of wheeling around, desperately looking for "whatever it was" that was following me.  Elbows and knees stick out from behind the lampposts, betraying their positions -- but since their faces are hidden and they can't see me, they assume that I can't see them.  At some point, close to our house, the kids like to run ahead of me and hide in the doorways near the entrance to our home or inside the family-sized bicycle that sits in front of our house.  When I come up to our front door, then, I am "surprised" by the secret agents who suddenly appear before my eyes.  The game never gets old.

Even as adults, we tend to play these same games with each other.  "No, no -- I never said that!  What I really meant was..." Or "Of course it doesn't really matter to me, but..." Or "My feelings have nothing to do with it, naturally; I'm just concerned about it principally..."  We try to mislead each other in these small, subtle ways (though, of course, the same things happen in bigger situations like embezzlement, affairs, bargaining for better deals).  But more often than not, we're spreading our nets in full view of all the birds!  We're broadcasting one set of intentions while actually acting upon another set of intentions.  It's foolish, really, and often painfully obvious to others.  If we're wise, though, we'll start to realize that this sort of play-acting is bound to catch up with us sooner or later.  It's all well and good if you're in elementary school, with a Dad who's willingly duped by secret agents -- willing to ignore the elbows and knees sticking out from behind the lampposts.  But otherwise, we'd be better served by living with honesty and integrity.