Honesty and Integrity

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose.  Take which you please - you can never have both.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is certainly true that honesty and integrity involve work to which there are no shortcuts. These are qualities that help us grow. When they are absent we remain small and weakened. When present they make us strong enough to be able to topple whatever  giant darkens our path. How much easier it is to slide by on a false facade than own up with an honest heart or stand up for what you believe in. Yet the rewards are beyond comprehension when one carries the heart expressed in:

Psalm 119:104-105 With your instruction, I understand life; that's why I hate false propaganda. By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.(The Message)

The integrity necessary to understand life is found in God's Word. We have eyes to read and see it, ears to hear it, a mouth to speak it and talk about, and certainly a brain to coordinate, direct, think, decide, remember and utilize it. We also have been given the free-will right to choose.

Truth, like milk, arrives in the dark
But even so, wise dogs don't bark.
Only mongrels make it hard
For the milkman to come up the yard.
~Christopher Morley, Dogs Don't Bark at the Milkman