Integrity

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Labor Day!

Is this Happy Friday this weeks Happy Friday or last weeks? The thought, the conviction, for it started last week however due to the craziness of life I am not writing it until the beginning of a new week! The struggle is real my Friends! :)

This week I want to talk about integrity. Usually when we talk about integrity, we say things like "do what you say, say what you do" or "your words and deeds matching." Most of the time when you look up integrity it will say things like "honesty," "being true to your word" and the like. This morning I want to take a little bit deeper dive into integrity...I want to look at the root.

Earlier this week I came across a piece on integrity that I thought was absolutely beautiful. It said:

"When something has integrity, it means that thing is undivided. It is whole. Solid. Intact. Think of the concept of structural integrity in engineering. When a building has structural integrity, it means that it can sustain and support the load for which it was designed. In the technology world, data is said to have integrity when there is no corruption in it. For something to have integrity means that all is as it is intended to be." - Rick Burgess & Andy Blanks

THIS is what I want to talk about briefly this morning - "it can sustain and support the load for which it was designed" and "all is as it is intended to be." How about me and you? How do we measure up to those standards of integrity?

In doing research on customer service, I once came across a saying that said something like, "Everyone is worried about what they are going to "do." Instead, worry about what you are going to "be." This makes so much since to me. What if, instead of worrying about all the things we are going to do, we focused our attention instead on what we are going to be? Instead of focusing on the fruit, we focused on the root? If the root is good and right, the fruit will be as well. If the root is bad however, no matter how hard we try, it will never produce good fruit consistently.

Let's bring it home to the very level of who we are, who we really are, not what we pretend to be. Within each one of us is great passion and purpose for something. The "somethings" are as vast and diverse as the number of people walking the face of the earth. And yet, sadly, many are not walking out their passions and purposes, they are not walking in integrity. Instead, they are walking out whatever someone else, or society, told them they should be. And here is where the real problem comes in, those passions and purposes, though perhaps buried beneath years of hurt, rejection and the like, will continue to cry out from the depths of our souls. They will present themselves in the form of frustration, rudeness, anger or perhaps hostility. Just like a building that lacks integrity will eventually crumble and fall, so will the person who fails to walk in their integrity.

You and I were created on purpose, for a great purpose. We are perfectly equipped to fulfill that purpose, we lack nothing. We, however, are not perfectly equipped to fulfill purposes for which we were not created. And yet, so many of us try! Instead of embracing the people we were created to be, instead of relentlessly pursuing our great talents, gifts and abilities, we foolishly try to be someone we were never created to be. Just because what we were created to be is different than what someone else was created to be, it does not mean that we are less...it just means we are different and different is beautiful! Can you imagine what this world would be like if we all had the exact same talents, gifts and abilities? Not only would it be extremely boring, it would be terribly ineffective and inefficient! 

My Sweet Friends, let's stop focusing on the things we are going to say and do. Let's focus on understanding who we were created to be and then spend the rest of our lives relentlessly pursuing our greatness in those areas and tirelessly using whatever talents, gifts and abilities we have to love, care for and serve each other. Then, and only then, will we walk in our integrity! Then, and only then, will the words and actions match!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com. 

Have a great day, a wonderful Labor Day, and please cherish your precious families!

Kev