Day 24: A Little Piece of My Whole

“The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.”
Proverbs 20: 7

This morning in my devotional reading I learned that the definition of the word integrity comes from the root word “integer,” which simply means a whole number. Integrity in a building might refer to the soundness of its foundation, in a ship it speaks of the capability of the hull to weather storms and stay afloat, and in a scientific experiment it indicates the consistency and verifiability of the testing methods.

A man, or a woman, for that matter, that walks in his or her integrity is likely to be considered to have all of these characteristics; their foundation in Christ is sound causing them to exhibit moral and ethical behavior, their capability to rely on God’s word enables them to weather the trials and storms of life, and the consistency of their character can be tested and verified day after day through their upright behavior.

In order to fulfill a commitment, my children had to be at church this morning an hour earlier than I needed to be there. The thirty-five minute drive to church precluded my returning home, and with Christmas only six days away, I needed every precious second of time to complete my gift shopping. Knowing exactly what I needed to accomplish, in under a half an hour I found myself in the store of my choosing, and standing at the cash register.

“Thirty eight dollars and…

“That can’t be correct,” I interrupted, before he could complete his sentence. “It sounds wonderful, but something didn’t get rung up.”

After carefully reviewing my purchases, and revising my total at a somewhat more beefy number, we both smiled, and I said, “Well it was fun while it lasted!”

A little opportunity to be consistent, when I know the only one watching is my Father. A little piece of my whole.

I went on to church, pulling in just in the nick of time, the shopping incident already forgotten. With all my loved ones serving elsewhere for the day, I sat alone. Bowing my head for communion, suddenly my family was all that I could think of, How greatly I want them to be blessed, how much I long for each of them to know the depth of the love of Jesus Christ.

I have been less than the whole that God has intended me to be, and my children have been the unfortunate witnesses to this failure of character. Still, His mercy endures and His forgiveness rewrites my past, creating in its place a story of a woman made whole.

I believe that is the definition of integrity.


Father,

You are rewriting my life into a story of failures traded for a strong foundation, storms weathered, and character made consistent. You are making me whole. I bow my heart and head in humble appreciation. I pray that as you make me a woman of integrity, that your promises will be fulfilled in my children, and that they will know blessings in You that they could not ever have imagined.

Your Beloved