May integrity and honesty protect me, for I put my hope in you. Psalm 25:21 NLT
From Bruce and Stan’s book, “God is in the Small Stuff and it all matters:”
One of the great debates of the last few years has centered on character. Some people believe that it’s possible for a person to possess both a public and private character, even if the two are very different. What you do in private, the reasoning goes, is your own business, as long as it doesn’t affect your public performance.
There’s only one problem with this thinking. Once you divide your personality and your actions into two or more categories or compartments, you deviate from the very definition of character. At its root, character is defined by integrity, and at the heart of integrity is the idea of wholeness. If an object (such as a bridge) or a person (such as you) has integrity, it means that the object or person is in an unbroken condition. Therefore, if your character—which defines who you are—is broken into two or more pieces, you no longer have integrity. And without integrity, you don’t have much character.
Remember the movie Titanic? One of the primary reasons the big boat was considered unsinkable was because of the compartments in it’s hull. The theory was that flooding in one compartment due to a breach (that’s a broken place) in the hull wouldn’t affect other compartments because of the high walls between them. What the Titanic’s designers did not anticipate was that the collision with the iceberg slashed through several compartments at once, so that the sea water spilled over the walls from one compartment to another until the mighty ship tragically sunk.
The same applies to life. You think you can keep a break in one part of your life from impacting the other parts, but it just doesn’t work that way. An integrity breach in one compartment of your life quickly spills over to another until your entire live begins to sink.
So how do you keep your life from flooding? It all has to do with integrity. Keep your life together. Live your life in private the way you do in public, and vice versa. When you live your life as a whole rather than in parts, you can handle breaks (and you will have them) because there are caring people around you who will help you repair the damage—if they now about it.
One of the best ways to keep you life whole is to pay attention to the small stuff. Do what it takes every day to develop your character and preserve your integrity. Most of all don’t live your life to please others. Live your life to please God.
. . .In the Small Stuff
- The manner in which you cultivate your inner garden will be evident to all manner of pests.
- People of integrity make an easy target for critics because they stand upright.
- Let your word be your bond: Keep your promises, meet your deadlines, honor your commitments, pay your bills.
- It’s one thing to know what is right, and it’s another thing entirely to do it.
- Others determine your reputation. You determine your character.
- If you want to know what’s in your heart, listen to your mouth.
- If you find yourself in a questionable situation, get our immediately.
- Before you can ask integrity of others, you must attempt to be blameless yourself.
- The practice of honesty is more convincing than the profession of holiness.
- Character is made by what you stand for; reputation by what you fall for.
- Take a little more than your share of the blame.
- Take a little less than your share of the credit.
- Be honest with yourself. Be honest with other people. Be honest with God.
- Character is one of those qualities that takes time to develop.
- Rest on God’s promises; stand behind yours.
~Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. God Is in the Small Stuff (Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, Promise Press 1998), 70-73
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience, and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
