Ablaze for God - Day 38 Devotional

“Integrity is More Caught than Taught”
Submitted by Judy Wessel
Key text: Proverbs 3:5

We are the proud parents of 6 children, and proud grandparents of 10 grandchildren. We have always had to put our trust in the Lord as there is no way we would ever have been able raise our family without God's help. It is only through Him

During the time four of our children were growing up, we owned a live bait business. My husband was out in the woods nearly every day catching minnows to sell in the shop. Taking care of the children and running the ship was left mostly to me. I did all the cooking, gardening, canning, wash, and ran the bait shop which included waiting on customers, ordering tackle, paying bills, etc. Oops, I forgot about the cleaning, but that is something I like to forget. From May to late October, we were open 16 hours a day. Life was hectic and crazy but lots of fun.

Amidst all of that, our aim was to bring our children up to have integrity. Integrity is not anything that you can teach. It can only be learned by living it and setting a good example.

I remember one day, my two daughters and I went shopping. Laura was 3 and Diane just a baby. We went into the card shop where Laura saw some little playing cards. She asked if she could have them. I said “no” because we just couldn't afford them. I thought she put them back, but she had put them in a little purse that she was carrying. We finished our shopping and drove the 13 miles home. When we got home, she took out the little cards to play with. I was so upset. She was too young to really understand what she had done wrong, so I called the card shop and told them what had happened and that we were coming back in. We drove back the 13 miles to town and I marched her into the store. She had to give the cards back and apologize to the clerk, tell her that she was sorry and that she would never do it again. That was 38 years ago and she still remembers this lesson like it was yesterday.

I like to think that we ran our bait shop and raised our family with integrity. We always tried to treat all our our customers with respect, fairness, kindness, and friendliness. We always tried to do the same with our family except with a lot of love mixed in. It wasn't always easy when the children became teenagers and “knew more than we did”.

People have asked me how I was able to raise a family, run a business, and keep my sanity. My advice is to live each day as it comes, love unconditionally and laugh a lot. The main thing is to PRAY and model integrity to those closest to you. Constantly. God has always been there for me. May He be there for you too!