“I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes” (Psalm 101:2-3)

This is my theme since Jim has been in Africa. There was a book written many years ago called, Who You Are When No One’s Looking , which is a great question to ask when talking about integrity. So whether my house is full of people or empty, or whether my husband is around to keep me accountable or not, I will walk within it in the integrity of my heart.

When Jim was in high travel season a few years ago, God opened my eyes to see how much garbage I was watching on TV whenever he was gone. So I made a commitment not to watch TV alone. This was totally not a legalistic move, but a way for me to honor God by not setting any “worthless thing before my eyes”. What later became clear is that not only was I watching garbage, but I was wasting hours of time.

I’ve been reading a commentary of sorts on the book of Ruth in the Bible. Basically, the author states that the implications of the book of Ruth are so much bigger than we think.

“One of the great diseases of our day is trifling. The things with which most people spend most of their time are trivial. And what makes this a disease is that we were meant to live for magnificent causes. None of us is really content with the trivial pursuits of the world. Our souls will not be satisfied with trifles…

We live in the Swiss village but stare at the wooden figurines in the window rather than lifting our eyes to the ‘everlasting snows.'” (John Piper)

He goes on to assert that the book of Ruth teaches us that when we follow God, our lives always mean more than we think they do. We were made for a purpose far greater than ourselves, so every step of obedience we take is significant. Satisfaction in life comes from not being caught up in the time-wasting trifles.