This week I was hit with the honesty arrow three times:

One tenant told me after I returned her full deposit, that I had overpaid her, and that I had let her and her cousin, first time renters who were scraping their money together, pay a half deposit. I had forgotten, but she quickly corrected me and returned $348.00. That impressed me.

Another tenant, when I asked if he had switched the water to his name on August first, told me he hadn’t done it until August 7th. I thanked him for his honesty and told him we could work out the missed days that would be charged to me. I would have found out eventually and been bugged. He saved me from all that and created goodwill between us, and a feeling that I can trust him.

A third tenant, who was signing our lease which states no businesses can be run out of the apartment, said his wife occasionally makes Keto treats, and sells them on Facebook Marketplace. He asked if that would be alright. Again, I complimented him on his honesty, and said “occasionally” would be fine. He didn’t have to say any of that to me, but he wanted to make sure it was okay. He wanted peace of mind.

Each time I would read the above scenarios in their text form, I was deeply affected. It gave me a surge of well-being like, things are going to be okay! The world isn’t going completely off its axis!

I am grateful to my mother, who conditioned us to bring the broken cup or the misdeed we had done, to her. She praised us so much for being honest, that we received a double bonus: peace of conscience and the powerful reinforcement that we had made our mother happy. She modeled for me how to promote honesty in my own children.

These are turbulent times. There is so much out of our control, but so much of our happiness is within our reach. Peace of mind is a big part of that. Developing and practicing these wonderful attributes of the Savior with our children will show them how to do the right thing and have that surge of happiness, which is the Spirit rewarding us for doing the right thing.

I almost want to write these parents of my tenants to thank them for raising honest children. It’s that big of deal!

PS. I have reread A Tree Grows In Brooklyn and it is a masterpiece. I mentioned it in my last post. It’s a coming of age book and I would have an older teenager read it, not ages 9-13 as I had recommended.