Integrity
Weekly Presence Prompt
Integrity is often invisible. Like a house that stands tall, year after year, through extreme weather and the chaos of many lives lived within its walls. The integrity of the builder remains, silently hidden and unshakable.
Our friends, Pat and Jane, are having a huge renovation done. All of the furniture pushed into other rooms like a game of Tetris for the foreseeable future. And when this renovation is done, nobody will know it or see it. All evidence of the enormous project will be hidden. They are replacing the ceiling. With integrity. Many years and maybe many generations will come and go and nobody will think twice about the work that has gone into this invisible and foundational structure.
How does integrity show up in us? In relationships? In communication? Do we recognize this deep strength when we see it?
Integrity
I love this discussion of the meaning of integrity in Wikipedia:
“Integrity is the quality of being honest and having a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or earnestness of one’s actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy. It regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that people who hold apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter those values.
The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete. In this context, integrity is the inner sense of “wholeness” deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character.”
This week, we open our eyes, look up at the ceiling, notice and give gratitude for the things we take for granted. We ask ourselves: how can I renovate my self, my life, with integrity? What work can I do to strengthen myself? Am I living with moral and ethical consistency? Then, we can look out into our community and ask the same questions. Are the structures that we count on built with integrity? If not, what can we do to re-build?
#brucejacksonphotography #integrity #communication #relationships
Powerful!