But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgement.
James 5:12 [NKJV]
It’s officially the start of a brand new week again, and I’m honestly pleased to share that my weekend has been rather productive. Yes, I’ve spent a major portion of my weekend focused on my work for my new job. I was mentally prepared that the start of this new career path will always be hectic. It’ll take some time before I can get things to a more manageable level, and that is when I can be more efficient in my daily tasks and have a better work-life balance for everything else in my life. For now though, I think my work will be consuming my life quite a fair amount.
But wait, how does it have anything to do with today’s daily bread reflection on integrity? It is never my intention to blow my horn or anything, but it is only meant to serve as an example of what it means to have integrity. To be fully accountable, and reliable. Having integrity is all about saying something and doing the very same thing. To be a person of integrity, we don’t have to make promises, or make verbalized “vows”. It is more about how we behave and act than what we actually say to people (although yes, that is also a part of what it means to have integrity).
Integrity is a Daily Choice
The very first lesson I can share is that having integrity (a strong character) starts with making that decision every single day. Having integrity and honoring that value in our lives is not something that happens by default. In the world we live in where we are constantly surrounded by temptations and peer pressures, from cultural expectations to societal norms; we are constantly bombarded with temptations to do things and say things that act in our own self-interests. But it is in the face of those temptations and personal inconveniences that our decision to uphold our own integrity really matters.
Being Consistent ≠ Being Perfect
It might seem quite obvious, but it is still something worth emphasizing, I believe that it is important to always act consistently in our daily lives. That is what having integrity really means – being consistent in who we are, how we talk to people, and how we behave (both in public and in private). But does that mean that you have to be perfect? Actually, I think that you don’t have to be. Honestly, I think it is not easy to always act that consistently 100% of the time. No matter how good your character may be, no matter how strong a person is, there will be days when we falter, and in spite of our best efforts, we make mistakes. But that just means that we are human beings.
The most important thing that we need to always keep in mind is that even when we do falter and fail from time-to-time, we don’t stop try and we don’t stop being consistent in who we are.
I used to mistake that being consistent in how I act and behaved meant that I needed to “achieve perfection” as a person of integrity. But by trying to chase that “perfection”, when I encountered a few setbacks, I eventually began to question if it was even possible at all. Clearly it is not. So, I started to stop trying over time. That is what happened to me for the past two years plus of my life. I basically stopped trying to do a lot of the good things that I used to be practicing on a daily basis.
How You Act in Public vs in Private
I find that what really helped me was to write stuff down. When I write stuff down, I name what is wrong and I can immediately take the necessarily actions to address the issues in my life. One thing that always helped me when it comes to working on my own personal & professional integrity is to make two columns on a piece of paper and on one side, I would list down all the things I did/said in front of others (when I know people are watching/noticing), and then on the other column, I would write down the things I would say/do when nobody is watching (or when I think nobody is watching).
I then took the time to really go through the list of items and if there is something that is different, I would ask myself why they are different. Why did I only behave and act a certain way when I am in front of others? Sometimes it is because of a fear of judgement, or to have other people say something that sounds harmless enough, but it is. So I would choose to pretend instead of being my real self.
Trying My Best Every Single Day
I think what I am trying to say here today is that I am not giving up. I know that there are still days when in spite of my best efforts to uphold my own integrity, I would stumble and in a split second, I would say something I didn’t intend to say. And then I would be afraid to walk it back. That is usually the case if I ever were to experience something like that. But this doesn’t happen every often in today’s context.
Positive Example | Professional Integrity
I think the best positive example that I can think of sharing is my professional integrity. I think that between my professional life and my personal life, I am doing a lot better on the professional side of things. Maybe it is because I am fully self-aware that there is a lot at stake for me. This new career opportunity is a major step towards the long-term career goal/mission that I’ve been working towards for a very long time. So, doing it really well, in fact, excelling at it is all I really care about. And excelling at it means choosing to act with integrity, responsibility, accountability and dependability are all at the top of my priority list. I want my boss to know that he can always rely upon me to do an excellent job. It’s not a perfect job, but it is with a heart of excellence. There’s a clear difference. But that does not mean that I don’t need to still improve and get better. I believe that choosing and having integrity in our professional careers is a daily decision too. We are faced with difference choices, and circumstances that will challenge our integrities. What will we decide/choice then? That matters.
Room for Improvement | Personal Integrity
The one area of my life that I know needs more work is my own personal integrity. As an introvert, I always prefer to do things in private (and away from prying eyes). I like to do things in private because it would help to avoid/prevent unwanted personal opinions and judgements from other people. I’ve always been that way for most of my life. This is my natural self. But it is when I am in front of others that I struggle to act and behave exactly as I am when I am in private. In my life so far, I have met so few, so few people who could allow me to feel comfortable enough to actually be myself in front of them. As for everybody else? Well, they really only get to see a side of me that I decide to show them. I believed that they don’t have to really see & know everything about me. But I think what I can do to improve in this area, is to still be honest and true to people if they ever tried to ask me something face-to-face. I don’t have to lie to them about it. If I am not comfortable sharing the information, I can always be honest with them that it is not comfortable for me to talk about something that is too private to share. That way, I won’t have to lie to them, or say something that I normally wouldn’t say. But it is not only just this. I think it’s a very wide array of things that I can still work on and do better when it comes to upholding my own personal integrity. This could require a lifetime commitment of itself.
Personal Prayer for Today
Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank You for speaking to me through Your word today. Thank You for taking the time today to remind me of something that I have been working towards for many years, and it is also something that I need to continue to work on on a daily basis.
INTEGRITY.
Thank You for reminding me that acting and behaving with integrity (being honorable) is not a destination that we need to get to, but rather something that we are supposed to be striving towards constantly on a daily basis. Thank You for reminding me that being consistent in who we are and how we act isn’t about trying to be perfect. Because it is not doable. It is that decision to keep trying and not giving up even on days when we stumble and have a relapse.
Thank You for helping me to see and better understand my own integrity in life as well. Thank You for showing me that I am doing better and heading in the right direction when it comes to my own professional integrity. But I also know that there is still room for me to do better in that area too. The one area that I know I have to do better is my own personal integrity. It is the one thing that I still struggle with the most when compared to having professional integrity. It is in this personal/private area that I ask for Your grace and courage as I continue to face different situations everyday that could test my personal integrity.
I pray and ask all of this in Jesus’ mighty name.
Amen.
shermannatrix 
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