Living Intact in 2024
Finding the path toward integrity
Happy 2024, everyone! I pray you are all going into the year with hope for the upcoming year. Without hope, well… we are all sunk! I know it can be hard to feel hope when we look around at what’s going on in the world, turn on the news, look at our social media feeds etc…. If you need a little help in that area, I recommend you check out and support my friend Marcus Royce’s substack,
. We need as much hope as we can get these days, right? :-)Many of us spent the week between Christmas and New Years in reflection. We thought back on our highs and lows of the previous year and tried to assess what worked for us and what didn’t. Then we started planning what we could do to improve our lives for the upcoming year. Do any of you still make New Year’s resolutions? I gave that up years ago because I was horrible at keeping them, so usually by about the 2nd week of January, (when I had already blown my yearly resolution), I already felt like a failure. That is no way to start out the new year!
I recently saw a blog title that caught my eye. It said: “I don’t know where I’m going - but I know how to get there.”* And then the subtitle was: “When I don't know where I'm going, I rely on my Core Values to know how to keep moving ahead.”* That really made sense to me. None of us really know where we are going. Yes, we have our plans and our goals. We know what we want to move toward - but honestly, I can look back on my own life and see that Proverbs 19:21 is so very true: “Many are the plans in a human’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” I believe God has altered my plans more often than not and I’m extremely grateful for the interventions! Had I been left to my own devices, I’m quite sure I would have made a bigger mess of things than I did. And trust me, I made some enormous messes along the way.
But back to planning 2024. I have found that Colby’s blog sub-title is true. When I rely on my core values to guide me, no matter where I end up, I’ll be fine. But how do we identify our core values and use them as our guiding light?
I believe it all starts with integrity.
There are several definitions of integrity. Most people associate the word integrity with the first definition from the image above. But it is the second definition that I want to focus on today: The quality of being whole and complete.
I recently learned that the English word “integrity” comes from the Latin word “integer” which in its simplest form means “intact”.
Don’t we all want to be intact?
The Webster dictionary also gives the definitions of “an unimpaired condition” and “the quality or state of being whole, complete and undivided”. Examples:
A modern addition on the old building would ruin its archetectural integrity.
The airplane was checked for structural integrity.
Changing the dialogue would affect the integrity of the play
I definitely want to live a life of integrity. Yes, morally, but also as a whole, complete, intact person. The best way I know to do that is to know myself. Understand what makes me tick. What drives the choices I make in life? Who are the people I’m drawn to, and why? How have my opinions been formed? The more I learn about myself, the easier it becomes for me to find the cracks in my structure (my integrity) and start growing into a stronger, wiser, healthier human being that loves well. And that, after all, is my main goal in life.
This is why I talk about how important self-care is in my writings and My Book. Self-care isn’t bubble baths or pedicures. Self-care isn’t self-comfort, self-absorption, or selfishness. It is the opposite of that. It’s doing the daily, hard work of self-evaluation and then doing what you need to do to grow into a person of integrity. For me, that ultimately means trying to become a person who reflects the qualities of Jesus, who I still believe was the embodiment of God. I say “still” believe, because my beliefs have changed a lot over the last few years. But although my faith has evolved, my love of Jesus stays well intact.
How do you get in touch with your core values? What drives the choices you make as you move forward in life?
Tell me everything….
Love… M
*from the post I don’t know where I’m going, but I know how to get there by Colby Martin
“I don’t know where I’m going, but I know how to get there.” - original quote credited to The Lion Tracker’s Guide To Life by Boyd Varty
RESOURCES:
Have you heard of The Bible Project? If you don’t know about them, I highly recommend you check out their site. I started digging into some of their videos last year and I found them to be highly helpful. I wanted to start a new Bible study plan this year and as I was glancing through my YouVerson Bible App Reading Plans, I was thrilled to see one by The Bible Project where it will lead me through the whole Bible in 365 days. It may take me a little longer to get through (maybe it takes two or three years.. but that’s ok… we all can read on our own timeframe), but I like having a plan of working through it along with commentary to help me not just READ the Bible but UNDERSTAND what I’m reading and why it’s important for us, even now in our current culture. You can check out their reading plan, click on image below:
Could you BE any more awesome?! Thank you dear Marcia, my comrade of hope.