Practice What You Preach

One of the perks of teaching at Ivy Tech was meeting so many neat people, and one of them is Josh Bault.  Josh was an adjunct for us in English and I really enjoyed getting to know him.  His 'regular job' is a minister to a church in Logansport.  His FB posts are usually funny and full of family life, but he also shares thought-provoking tidbits that I often save or store away for future reference.  As usually happens, many of them appear at just the right time---like he knew I needed to hear just what HE had to say.  Get it?

Anyway, today's post was this :  In its simplest definition, integrity is merely practicing what you preach.

Integrity is important.  I will never forget when a Student Council member accused me, in front of the entire Council meeting in the media center at West Central, of stacking the votes in an election.  I would never do that.  Dad drilled honesty into our heads when we were growing up, and Gary and I tried to stress that trait in our daughters. Take it a step further and just do what is right, live by that, and it's all good.

Lately I have been wrestling with my feelings about Mom and her death, and I have talked about them with Gary, the girls, my friends, and my sister.  This week I experienced a change in my attitude, which was prompted by the realization that my Thought Closet needed to be cleaned out, that Soul Talk was important, and that none of it could happen without my faith in the Lord.

I have written about it here in my blog.  I have talked about it with Gary.  I have shared with my sister.  But that isn't enough.  I have to live it.  I must practice what I preach.

"Cleaning out her Thought Closet?  Sure, sure, sure.  That won't last too long!  She will be right back where she was, down in the dumps because she has to control everything and has no common sense."

STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

I am practicing what I have been preaching.  I know it has only been a few days, but I feel so much better now, and I have no intentions of backsliding into the realm of  re-hashing Mom's verbal abuse and why she did it.  No more.  It is over.

Thanks, Josh, for the reminder.  Thanks, Josh, for the words of wisdom that you post so frequently on FB.  I am so glad we became friends.