Teaching Integrity
INTEGRITY – Read a poem on integrity.
(Handout – A copy of the poem with a safety pin on it.) Ask them to pin this to their pillow every day as they make their beds so that every night they will be reminded to evaluate their integrity that day. Keep it on until you accomplish a goal in their pp
book.
Topic: Don’t be “Roped” into Lowering Your Standards
Items needed: A 12″ piece of rope that can be unraveled.
Presentation: Begin to separate the rope by unraveling the strands.
Lowering our standards is like unraveling this rope. The more we lower our
standards the weaker we become. When we are weak it becomes easier to be
“roped” into breaking our standards. As standards are broken, (show the
rope) our rope, or values, no longer provide the strength we need to hold on
to, the strength that will keep us from falling. We remain strong by holding
on to our standards.
For the handout:
Remain Strong
Place a 6″ piece of rope here
Don’t Be “ROPED” Into Lowering Your Standards
I remember a great object lesson that was used nearly 30 years ago when I was attending BYU. The lesson was on Gossip, but I believe it could be used for Integrity as well. The teacher began the lesson by showing us a beautiful china tea cup that belonged to her great great great grandmother. The tea cup was one of the few remaining pieces of the set that been brought from England and then brought across the plains in a wagon. She set the tea cup on the table so we could see it during the lesson, and proceeded on to talk about the harmful affects of gossip. Toward the end of the lesson, she took the tea cup and placed it in a paper bag and took out a hammer and smashed it to smithereens. Of course, everyone gasped, then she calmy said, “Now, this was just a piece of china, but this is what gossip does to other people and to their good names.” Then she went on to explain that Just as you would never consider destroying something that is beautiful and precious as a family heirloom, gossip does just that. Then she bent down and picked up another paper bag and pulled out the beautiful china cup that belonged to her gr. gr. grandmother. The one she had smashed was a cup that she had purchased at Goodwill for .25.
I was thinking, this could be used for integrity because when we are dishonest, it destroys others confidence and trust in us.
Sandy Osburn Elk Ridge UT
The definition of integrity is – I will have the moral courage to make my actions consistent with my knowledge of right and wrong.
The dictionary defines integrity as the state of being complete, undivided or unbroken. With this definition it is easy to see when an object has integrity. But how can we tell if a person has integrity? A person is complete, undivided or unbroken when his beliefs and actions are the same. If he believes one thing BUT does another, then he is lacking integrity. How can you test yourself to see if you have integrity? Here is how.
If you are entirely alone, unseen by anyone else, would you cheat on a test or read dirty literature? Would you take anything that doesn’t belong to you, break a promise or disobey your parents? On the other hand, if you were given, for example, a cleaning job to do, would you do the best you could possibly do, or would you clean only the most noticeable places and skip the hard-to-see ones.
To summarize – if your beliefs and actions are the same and if you act in the same way when you are alone as when you are with someone, then you have integrity.
Have you ever wondered why Integrity is the last value? Integrity is the results when the other six values have been developed.
The scripture reference of Integrity is: Job 27:5: “Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.”
Reading about Job can be humbling as you come to realize how much suffering he endured. (could mention some of his sufferings) Yet he never gave up his belief that Heavenly Father knew his situation and was helping him, even though he was still allowed to suffer. Job never wavered in keeping the commandments or loving and praising God, even though it might have seemed easier to give in to hate and revenge. His actions matched his knowledge of what was right and wrong, and he consistently chose to do what was right even though it required a great deal of courage.
With Integrity as the value for this month, set aside some time, perhaps Sunday
afternoon and decide on two goals then work hard to complete them this month. You will be blessed for your efforts.
The color for integrity is PURPLE
Could also give the YW grape jolly ranchers for a treat…..
The best talk I’ve heard on integrity and really remember so well was using the book Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss! Of course the pictures are wonderful and you don’t read it word for word but telling the story with Dr. Seuss’ words and some pictures emphasizing what Horton says as he sits and sits and sits
“I meant what I said
And I said what I meant…
An elephant’s faithful
One hundred percent!”
Integrity
Topic: Avoid The Very Appearance of Evil
Preparation: Items needed: Wooden skewer, cupcake or muffin, sail (made from construction paper cut in the shape of a pennant with 2 holes to insert the skewer through).
Handout: Print out the following saying to put onto the sail:
All the water in the world,
However hard it tries…
Can never sink the smallest
ship unless it gets inside.
And all the evil in the world
the blackest kind of sin…
Can never hurt you in the
least, unless you let it in.
On the other side attach this saying: Avoid the very appearance of evil.
Stick the sail attached to skewer into the center of the muffin or cupcake.
Presentation: Help the young women realize that the best way to avoid sin is to stay far from it. Proper choices will lead to a life free from sin. It is important that we avoid the very appearance of evil.
How about a vase full of flowers like that one mormonad with all roses and one daisy, with a little framed quote like “be true to yourself”?
Kerrie
I spoke for a little while on What Integrity Is, How to Get It, Examples of Integrity (both biblical examples and examples from the New Era), and Why Have It. I got all that info from some talks I found on the Church Publications section of LDS.ORG. The examples part was great because I had the girls tell me the biblical stories (focused mostly on Joseph of Egypt) rather than me just recite them.
Then we played a game I made that I called ‘Stepping Stones to Integrity’. It was very simple. I had a starting Stone with a picture from the Integrity Chapter of the PP manual and about 15 stone spaces that wound their way to the ‘Come Unto Christ’ Picture. I made up about 30 little cards with directions on them. Some moved forward and some back. Examples were like:
“The cashier gave you 50 cents too much change, you kept it because it wasn’t that much – Move Back 3 Spaces”
“You forgot to study for a test – your friend suggests copying her paper – You don’t and accept the consequences – Move Ahead 3 spaces”
Here are the questions I created for my Stepping Stones to Integrity game – I focused on some things I thought our girls ‘needed’ help on so maybe change them with your girls in mind.
1. You borrowed your friend’s shirt and returned it to her as soon as you were done – you even washed it! Move ahead 2 spaces.
2. You promised to babysit for the Smith’s while they went to the Temple – the cutest guy in school invites you to a concert at the same time – You tell ‘Cutey’ that you can’t go. Move Ahead 5 spaces.
3. You borrowed your mom’s shoes. The last time you saw them they were…somewhere? Go back 3 spaces.
4. You do your Saturday morning chores as soon as you get up so you can go out with your friends. Move ahead 3 spaces.
5. You obey the speed limit, even when you are late! Move ahead 3 spaces.
6. To avoid drawing attention to yourself, you let others say things about the Church that aren’t true. Go back 3 spaces.
7. You forget to study for a test – your friend suggests you copy her paper – you don’t and accept the consequenes. Move ahead 3 spaces.
8. You pay a full tithe, contribute to your families fast offering and put money aside for your mission. Go ahead 3 spaces.
9. Your word can be trusted. Move ahead 2 spaces.
10. You don’t go to the party on Friday night because you know that alcohol and drugs may be present – even though that really cute guy made a point to tell you he would be there. Go ahead 5 spaces.
11. You tell everyone at school you heard bad things about the new girl (and they were true!) Go back 5 spaces.
12. You tell your mom you have no homework (even though you do) so she’ll let you go out. Go back 5 spaces.
13. You said you’d pick up your sister at 7pm. You got involved talking to your friend on the phone and forgot. Go back 2 spaces.
14. You brought copy paper home from work to print your personal emails. Go back 3 spaces.
15. You came back from lunch on time, even though you had to eat in your car. Go ahead 2 spaces.
16. The cashier gives you 50 cents too much change. You keep it – it’s too small to matter. Go back 3 spaces.
17. You went to work today – even though the surf was up. Move ahead 3 spaces.
18. You surfed the internet today at work for 2 hours and didn’t make up the time. Go back 2 spaces.
19. The waitress forgets to charge you for your drink. You tell her. Go ahead 3 spaces.
20. You say something that you find out hurt someone elses feelings. You sincerely apologize. Go ahead 3 spaces.
21. You accuse someone of taking your things. You find out later that you were wrong. You apologize and ‘set the record straight’ . Move ahead 3 spaces.
Then I had five ‘Repentence is a Great Blessing! Move ahead 5 spaces” cards and four ‘Sabbath Day – Rest 1 Turn’ cards.
I printed them on business cards – they were the perfect size.
I also had a few “Sabbath Day – Rest 1 Turn” cards and “Repentence is a Great Blessing – Move ahead 5 spaces”
I also gave them bookmarks to take home that I made with the ‘Myself’ poem I found on Christy’s site and a clip art picture of a girl looking into a mirror.
The girls really seemed to enjoy it and had a good time. I even wore a purple dress 🙂
Just wanted to share – I’ve taken so many great ideas from y’all I just wanted to give back! Tammi in Port Orange, FL
I did a demonstration on Integrity in YW that went over very well but did not take a lot of time. I had one girl volunteer to come up front and sit in a chair. I asked the other YW what type of situations might cause them to allow their Integrity to waver. As they shared things like, gossip, not keeping a promise, not standing up of what is right, etc. I took a piece of yarn and wrapped it around the girl in the chair. With each comment the girl became more and more tangled in the yarn. I then shared the quote “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to decieve. I also shared another quote (sorry I can’t remember who said it. I think Pres Hinkley but will have to check)
“The question shouldn’t be, “What will people think., but what will I think of myself?” and finally when pleasing Heavenly Father matters more to you than pleasing others, you have become a YW of Integrity.”
I uses spider cookies (Oreos with string licorish legs and redhots attatched with frosting for the eyes) as a handout along with a test called, Are You a Person of Integrity? I can post the test for you if you’d like. I printed the test on one side and then tripple folded the page so I could include the qoutes on each flap. I drew a spider web and used a spider sticker to close the sheet. Hope this helps. The girls loved it…Of course, there was food involved!!!)
Grind up some oreo’s so they look like potting soil. Then put them in a pot. Start out how you enjoy planting things and watching them grow. You may even plant some seeds (something edible, maybe small candy, some sesame seeds or something like that) and “work” the soil a little while you are talking. Then ask someone who would trust you to come up and help you. Tell them you need them to tell you if you have the right mixture of soil, vermiculite and fertilizer. Get a spoon of the soil/cookie crumbs and feed it to the person. You may have to reassure a little. Then the person will obviously get what it is. They can tell the class what it is. Then you explain how integrity is fragile like a seed. If it isn’t taken care of properly then it will not grow, in fact it can die. Explain that the person who ate the soil trusted you and did not question your integrity, because of their experience with you. Then discuss how they can strengthen their integrity. You can give each person a small bag of dirt (cookie crumbs) with some saying about letting their integrity grow.
Amy in Texas