"Integri-TEA"

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV)

There is more to writing than a really SHARP pencil and a high quality eraser. That's just my starting point, as I jot ideas on my "blue for blog" notepad. One of those is integrity. It's sort of a Christian blogger's "TEA-ology" gut check. "Integrity" brand is actually stamped on my #2 pencil.

• Check motives. Thy glory, not mine. 
• Check author. Thy words, not my words. 
• Check audience. Thee, not readers. 

Blogger's Prayer by Ann Voskamp (2010) summed it up well.
Yahweh, You alone are my God, not Google. Jesus, You alone are my Savior, not site meters, And Holy Spirit, You alone are my comforter, not comments.

Her prayer was the impetus for me trying to "do it right." Blog with integrity. It's why I cite when I know a reference and indicate unknown source as just that; a note from my marginalia, a memory scrap, or a jot on a scrap of paper used as a bookmark, etc.

Prayerful beginnings: Examine me, and probe my thoughts! (Psalm 139:23) Test me, Lord for my heart is deceitful in ways only you can know.

Integrity is a quality that I certainly need to keep "brewing" in all areas of my life, not just my blog----tho that's a good place to start with this morning's entry and my cuppa integri-TEA.

As I sit before the Lord today with my cuppa, may he reveal to me areas in my life where I need more of Thee and less of me.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)