I was reading from my Maxwell Daily Reader this morning and today's passage really hit home with some of the events involving our sport over the past month. If our game is to be thought of as entertainment than certainly the principles can be different and it can probably prosper. But if we are truly in it to shape young people - to make a difference in our communities - than we must grab a hold of the issues involved and govern them with integrity. It is hard to understand a coach that breaks rules and then in turn wants to run a program based on rules and principles. How can you correct or discipline a player when you own integrity is not in check. I'm not referring to the occasional mistake which we all make. There will be times as coaches that we break a rule because of a misunderstanding or misinterpretation. You apologize -- learned from it -- and become better because of it. And we are just not talking about NCAA rules but also ethical guidelines of conduct. It's why this passage from John Maxwell really hit home with me this morning: Integrity is not what we do so much as who we are. And who we are, in turn, determines what we do. Our system of values is so much a part of us we cannot separate it from ourselves. It becomes the navigating system that guides us. It establishes priorities in our lives and judges what we will accept or reject.
We are all faces with conflicting desires. No one, no matter how "spiritual," can avoid this battle. Integrity is the factor that determines which desire will prevail. We struggle daily with situations that demand decisions between what we want to do and what we ought to do. Integrity establishes the ground rules for resolving these tensions. it determines who we are and how we will respond before the conflict even appears. Integrity welds what we say, think, and do into a whole person so that mission is never granted for one of those to be out of sync.
Integrity binds our person together and fosters a spirit of contentment within us. It will not allow our lips to violate our hearts. When integrity is the referee, we will be consistent; our beliefs will be mirrored by our conduct. There will be no discrepancy between what we appear to be and what our family knows we are, whether in times of prosperity or adversity.
Integrity is not only the referee between conflicting desires. It is the pivotal point between a happy person and a divided spirit. It frees us to be a whole persons no matter what comes our way.
