Integrity is something that you either have or you don’t.  But it starts when you are young and you build a foundation that is based on integrity.  So, what is it?  It’s more than honesty.  It’s more than being morally upright.  It is choosing consistently to stand for what is right, no matter who is looking, and even if no one is looking.  My students used to tease me that they would pay me big bucks to change their grades so that they could pass.  My answer was always the same, “I refuse to compromise my integrity because of your lack of studying.”  Then, I would explain that integrity is the choice you make when you think no one is looking.  

I would then explain further that there is a Higher Power who is always watching.  I had to be careful with my words because I was in a public school, but I made sure that they understood that the Higher Power that I was referring to, the One that I answered to was God, and I hoped and prayed that they would follow my example.

The above is a great quotation, but who gets to decide what is right and wrong?  God established that in His Word.  You can’t know what is right or wrong unless you refer to the guidebook that He has provided.  We had a pastor once who told us that the Bible is our Operator’s Manual for Life, likening it to the manual that comes with all cars.  I don’t know about you, but when a light flashes on in the car that is a trouble light, I open my Operator’s Manual to find out what that light means and what I am supposed to do about it.  Well, my manual for life has all of the answers, and I open it daily to find directions for that day.  I can’t consistently make right choices if I don’t know what they should be, and I find that out by reading God’s Word, by meditating on what He is trying to tell me.

It was important to me when I was a teacher that my choices be evident to my students, that I “walked the walk and talked the talk” before them.  But even more important was when I was home, how I acted in my comfort zone.  Did I continue to always make right choices?  I am sad to say that many times I fell short, I missed the mark, I dropped the ball…all of the sayings that one uses to say that I messed up.  However, what was more important is that my children and husband stuck around, knowing that under the anger and thoughtless words was the person that they knew and trusted to come forth…the real me was one of integrity.  Once I got over a temporary upset, I apologized, we prayed, forgave each other, and I went on, striving each day to be a better person and a better example of Christ.  I’m retired now, and I can only hope that the seeds of integrity that I planted with my students and with my own children will bear fruit, to the next generation and the one after that and the one after that…unti the Lord returns.  He is good!  He wants us to follow His manual that He gave us so that we can enjoy an abundant life.  I hope that you will pick up a copy of that “manual” today and make it a part of your daily routine.  The Holy Bible is our manual to help us to live with the integrity that we need so that others who are following us will make right choices, too.  You never know who might  be watching, but you can count on one thing…God is ALWAYS watching!