Integrity Cannot Be Denied

"Integrity can be neither lost nor concealed nor faked nor quenched nor artificially come by nor outlived nor, I believe, in the long run, denied." - Eudora Welty, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and photographer

Well, this puts integrity in perspective for me! The definition of integrity, according to Webster's dictionary is "firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values". And now we see from this quote that it cannot be faked or concealed. I find that very interesting and comforting as well.

Throughout my life I have often been accused of being "little miss perfect". I always did well in school and my classmates would usually make fun of that. I would constantly strive to "appear" and behave perfectly in every way. It seemed as if people would make sarcastic remarks about my high standard of morals sometimes and I would take it personally.

The truth of the matter was that I wanted to be liked by everyone. I needed to be liked and I seemed to focus on doing everything as perfectly as possible so that everyone would have to like me. It never worked out the way I expected it would though and I would usually end up disappointed and confused. I created so much stress that I was making myself sick. Even though I was trying to appear perfect, my life was crumbling around me. I was not living a life of integrity at all - I had to acknowledge that first before I could make any improvements.

These days I say what I mean, mean what I say, but I don't say it mean (most of the time). I honor my commitments and I live by a moral code today. I make mistakes sometimes, I'm not always joyful, and there are days when I can't get much of anything right. But I do my best and I believe that's all God needs me to do on a daily basis. Today I am grateful to have found a better way to live. Thank you God!