in·teg·ri·ty
inˈtegritē/
noun
- 1.the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness."he is known to be a man of integrity"
- 2.the state of being whole and undivided."upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty"
synonyms: unity, unification, coherence, cohesion, togetherness, solidarity
Currently I have a job - to keep the yard/lawn of a couple's house looking nice over the months that they are gone. They aren't living in the house, but I think they'll inherit it, or something like that - anyway - they want it to look nice while they're gone so that it isn't obviously abandoned etc. They were talking to my dad at church a little less than a year ago and he called me over to talk about a job opportunity. They explained what they wanted me to do, we figured out a per hour rate and I agreed to start as soon as the rainy season hit and the grass actually needed mowing. Now that I'm over there every other Saturday, I realize - I am alone on their property, with the keys to their house, garage, and lawn mower, and they are not even close to town. Even though they're not living there, the house is furnished, and it occurred to me that they trusted me enough to employ some random girl they'd never met to take care of their house. Not only that though, because it seems unlikely for someone to steal from a run-down old home with nothing very valuable in it - they are paying me per hour with no one supervising the number of hours. My parents would know if I changed the hours probably, because they pick me up and take me there, but while I'm there, who watches to make sure I'm working the whole time? The answer is no one is. However, I know how much I work, and I know how much money I deserve, and I'm not about to cheat them, and I feel good knowing I'm being honest. There's one other person who knows though, my Heavenly Father. There's no way in the universe to be sneaky enough that he wouldn't know about something. It just doesn't work that way. It's important to have integrity so that when it's just you deciding which decision to make, you make the right one.
Speaking of this job...
While I was there yesterday, I had come home to go to a baptism, and the break was nice - not to mention the relaxing spirit of being at a baptism. Then I drove out to the house again to finish working. The riding lawn mower died and the battery wouldn't charge again so I had to do it all by hand. I wasn't tired anymore, I had forgotten to eat breakfast so the work before lunch was harder than it should have been, but the hour I put in after lunch wasn't so bad, but still harder than sitting on a riding lawn mower. =) While I was out there, the sun came out and I realized I was getting really warm. I knew I had a tank top on under my t-shirt and for a moment considered working in that. After all, I was out of town, no one would really see me unless it was the occasional car driving by, and lots of people wear tank tops anyway. Then I realized, I wasn't so hot that it should have even been tempting, I live on the coast after all, it could only have been 65 degrees out there at the most. Hardly much of a trial. It struck me that what was happening was Satan was playing on my vanity. I knew that in my tank top I might look by worldly standards, a little skinnier than in my ordinary t-shirt, or a little tanner, because it was white and I'd just gone to Nicaragua. ;D However, as soon as I realized this I also realized that I wasn't going to work in just my tank top because it wasn't the right thing for me to do. Even when no one is watching, I remember thinking, I need to do what's right. So I did. I'm glad to say that I worked modestly and was plenty cool in my t-shirt and shorts.
Keep up the good work, be honest, and have a FANTASTIC day today. :)
