We spent the month of February really thinking about one of our Seven Pillars of Faith and Work…Integrity.
It was an interesting experience. We spent time thinking about and talking about men and women we knew who we thought had great integrity. Time after time, we would bring up a name, then we would say, “yeah, but remember they had that issue at work with…” Or, “don’t forget their marriage situation”. Or, etc., etc., etc…
It was an amazing process! What became painfully obvious is that none of us are perfect! That Integrity is extraordinarily difficult to achieve day in and day out. That we have all stumbled. I found that often one party feels there was an integrity issue and the other absolutely does not.
Friends, this is what I learned. Living with Integrity everyday is a very, very difficult thing to do. The gray zone between right and wrong is often just that…gray.
This past Friday morning we hosted a powerful Eight-to-Five event. Andy Wilson, Executive Leader at FBC of Springdale, AR and Church at Pinnacle Hills was our speaker on this subject of Integrity. He shared two powerful stories.
One story involved his encounter with Mr. Sam Walton as a 29-year-old VP at Wal-Mart. You can hear the entire talk and this story on our Eight-to-Five iTunes Podcast at http://graenark.libsyn.com/rss, but I wanted to share the “key learnings” Andy had from Mr. Sam:
- Humility is not a weakness
- Check your ego at the door
- Arrogance consumes everything and everyone
- Create an environment of open dialog
- Unite people and ideas
This week, can I challenge you to really embrace this word Integrity? Consider what the Bible says about it. Pray about how to live it. Listen to Andy’s talk.
“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.” 1Chronicles 29:17
Father, integrity is easy to talk about, but really hard to live. Please give me the wisdom to know what’s right, and the courage to do what’s right…even when it’s hard. Amen
