Last week(end) was simply wonderful. We spent Thanksgiving day with Nathan's parents and relatives, got up early for some Black Friday shopping the next morning (I may have completed my necessary annual shopping-for-clothes trip!), and then drove down to visit my parents and brother and sisters for the rest of the weekend. Whenever I'm around my parents or siblings, I have the bad habit of staying up way too late talking to any one of them, and then getting up early the next morning to get a start on the day. Usually that means I'm not well rested, but it always means my heart is happy by the time we leave
Saturday night I got into a long talk with my dad. I don't even remember how we got on this topic, but we started talking about how few people have integrity anymore, especially famous actors/singers/you name it. It's sad that you can just expect that a lot of people aren't just good for their word anymore. Luckily I'm blessed with awesome friends and family, but I see it time and time again that people are disappointed and let down by each other.
When Nathan and I got married, he told me something he had heard from a pastor that really struck with me. It was something like, "You probably won't be rich. You're not going to be famous. You may not be well known by anyone except your friends and your family. But no matter what, you can always be faithful." I don't know if that means as much to you as it does to me, but that's one thing I always want to be!
Life is a big series of ups and downs for everyone, and there's so many things that are out of our control. We can make plans all we want, and then something happens to totally change all of them.
More than anything, I don't want my integrity and faithfulness to go up and down based on what's going on in my life. There are seasons where I will have to say no to a lot, but better to say no than to not follow through. Over the last few years I've realized that no matter what, whether I am playing the role of wife, mom, sister, daughter-in-law, aunt, photographer, employee...WHATEVER that I want to be faithful in everything that I do.
I want to always be good for my word. I want others to expect me to show up on time and not back down for my promises. I want to tell the truth, even when it's painful. I want to serve those around me in the best way I can, whether in a personal or professional relationship. Above all, I want to be a person of integrity.
