Hey Warrior. Your integrity protects you.

The word Integrity basically means truth. This is simple, yet so complicated. There is an old movie where one of the characters screams out in a moment of intense debate "You can't handle the truth!" While sometimes that may be true, I'd much rather deal with the truth than a lie. As we talked about at the end of our previous Fight series, the truth ALWAYS will win. At your job, in your marriage, with your friends, kids, co-workers, and whoever else...when you speak truth consistently, a few things happen...

- You have Peace. You have peace in yourself because you know you're not having to hide anything.

- You're seen. Yes, speaking truth will always ensure that you are totally seen. Even when that truth is in the form of admitting some mistake or fault. People can deal with the truth, and you don't have to keep up some persona that you are in some way perfect or something, which you're not supposed to be anyways.

- You're trusted. Truth, and the practice of ensuring that every word that flies out of your mouth, always produces trust. And here's the cool part, if you've broken trust, start repairing it now by making sure you speak truth. It's never too late.

- Did I mention that you have Peace? If not, I will now. Integrity gives you PEACE! Secrets make you shady. Shady people, whether they admit it or not, always are looking over their shoulders for the moment their shadiness catches up with them. And, it will. Integrity eliminates shadiness.

What about you? Are their areas of your life that this is tough? Don't get me wrong, I know full well the temptation to look at a spouse or supervisor who just caught you in something and feel the temptation to just throw a little lie out there that covers it up. And you may very well can. But, it's not worth it, and it probably will bite you in the rear end, and, if you really care for the person who is now questioning you and you know they care about you too, they can deal with your truth a whole lot easier than they can your lie.

Our lies give us a false sense of security.
Our lies devalue our relationships.