Integrity, the Crowning Jewel

If I were to choose a favorite Young Women value, it would be integrity. And not just because I like the color purple.

Integrity. Integrate. Integral. Integer --to be whole or complete.

In all of us, there is a gap between what we know and what we do. The gap can be small or large, depending on the person or the issue. To me, that gap, or break in the wholeness, is a lack of integrity.

Have you ever found yourself saying, "I know I should do that, but...." ? That's a sure sign of a gap. Sometimes we feel guilty about that gap; sometimes we don't. Sometimes guilt leads us to do something about that gap; sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes we don't even recognize the gap.

Jesus came to earth to accomplish the Atonement, the at-one-ment, to help us bridge the gaps and become whole, or perfect. When we integrate the values, principles and attributes of perfection, when we do that which we know to do, then we come together in a whole and complete, or perfected being. We can’t do that completely on our own or in this life, but we can try.


When the Primary song, "I Am a Child of God" was first written, the chorus said, 'Teach me all that I must know to live with Him someday."
Spencer W. Kimball asked that it be changed to "Teach me all that I must do," as a reminder that it's not enough to know.
It has since been suggested that we change it again, to "Teach me all that I must be," to teach us that we must, on the inside and out, be, as Jesus taught, "Even as I Am."

To be honest with ourselves, with others, and with God --
to live as we know, --that is integrity.

To rephrase an old saying,
There are many tools of perfection,
but integrity is the handle of them all.




"Do not write a check with your tongue that your actions cannot cash." Neal A. Maxwell