I had been doing some self examination in regards to some problems I am having with maintaining the health gains I have had in the past few years and in the writing of this self examination I have identified a laziness, a spiritual laziness and an element of pride/fear.
The pride says I must be the best there is for my employer. The fear says you are not the best man for the job. The truth is: there is always someone better, so why worry about it, your the man doing the job now. The principal is; live in the eternal now. The question is, am I using this moment to the best of my God given ability?
You could say living in the now is foolishness, we must plan for the future and we must consider our mistakes and triumphs of the past in relation to the now and how that affects the future. And you would be right. But remember I called it the ETERNAL NOW, which is a bit different. The Eternal Now is the understood accumulation of all past experience and the awareness of all future potential now’s, tempered with the understanding that now only matters now. And if I live a principled life now the future will take care of itself.
This begs the question. Just what are my principals?
Honesty, Open mindedness, Love, Self examination, Humility, Industry, Spirituality.
In this list of principals, if I were to prioritize it, Spirituality would head the list. Why? Because without it, my will, will be subject to every whim of emotion. Without living every moment to please my God rather than myself and my animal instincts, my principals will be in constant conflict and compromise resulting in a life based in fear and guilt.
In my own strength of will, living my principals without compromise or the conflict of guilt and fear is a task I would not wish to do alone, these principals are lofty and often do go against natural instincts hence the need for self-examination and a Power Greater than myself; my Lord and my God.
My God supplies the willingness to be honest in all my affairs because I know that even if another person will not forgive me for those times I am in conflict with them, my God will. My experience with this principal has taught me that others value honesty as long as it is tempered with Humility, the kind of humility and Love that will look past their wrongs (meaning forgive) and take responsibility for my own wrongs.
Humility is closely tied to self-examination, honesty and love. It seems to me to be best defined by this line in an old pop song, "take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently". We all fall short of the kind of life that God would have us to live and if we are honest in our self examination we will humbly approach our God and as the old song finishes, "so,put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee".
Love of God, Love of self and Love of others is also a difficult principal to live by. Because the word Love means so many different things to so many different people that it is hard to define for your self, so, this is where my religion comes in and has helped me to identify just what that love is. And my definition is still being formed, but, at present it means to have a caring attitude towards God first, my self second and all other people as well, valuing their opinions and feelings equally with my own. Doesn't mean I need to agree with them it does mean I need to value them.
And of course that leads to open mindedness. Open mindedness does not mean I must accept some one else s opinions and therefore adopt them as my own. That would send me into a tail spin of compromise in all areas of my life. Love dictates that I must value the other persons opinion as much as I value my own. If I am truly living by this principal I would give no rise for conflict with any person even in discussions of religion and politics where we disagree because I then could truly listen to the other persons opinions and experience without judging them or seeking an argument and they would be more open to hearing why I value my opinion and experience.
The principal of Industry is simply defined in the word work. It means to me to work for my bread and work for the pleasures of my life and to do the best I can for my God at all times. This is the simplest of the principals to live by for me until I add the most important ingredient to this principal and that is "without a bad attitude or ungrateful heart". Realizing that God is my employer does change my attitude toward all I "work" at.
To sum it up, Jesus said it best when He said:
Mat_6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you
So what do you think?
Please let me know by making a comment.
Non-abusive comments will be published even if you disagree.
The pride says I must be the best there is for my employer. The fear says you are not the best man for the job. The truth is: there is always someone better, so why worry about it, your the man doing the job now. The principal is; live in the eternal now. The question is, am I using this moment to the best of my God given ability?
You could say living in the now is foolishness, we must plan for the future and we must consider our mistakes and triumphs of the past in relation to the now and how that affects the future. And you would be right. But remember I called it the ETERNAL NOW, which is a bit different. The Eternal Now is the understood accumulation of all past experience and the awareness of all future potential now’s, tempered with the understanding that now only matters now. And if I live a principled life now the future will take care of itself.
This begs the question. Just what are my principals?
Honesty, Open mindedness, Love, Self examination, Humility, Industry, Spirituality.
In this list of principals, if I were to prioritize it, Spirituality would head the list. Why? Because without it, my will, will be subject to every whim of emotion. Without living every moment to please my God rather than myself and my animal instincts, my principals will be in constant conflict and compromise resulting in a life based in fear and guilt.
In my own strength of will, living my principals without compromise or the conflict of guilt and fear is a task I would not wish to do alone, these principals are lofty and often do go against natural instincts hence the need for self-examination and a Power Greater than myself; my Lord and my God.
My God supplies the willingness to be honest in all my affairs because I know that even if another person will not forgive me for those times I am in conflict with them, my God will. My experience with this principal has taught me that others value honesty as long as it is tempered with Humility, the kind of humility and Love that will look past their wrongs (meaning forgive) and take responsibility for my own wrongs.
Humility is closely tied to self-examination, honesty and love. It seems to me to be best defined by this line in an old pop song, "take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently". We all fall short of the kind of life that God would have us to live and if we are honest in our self examination we will humbly approach our God and as the old song finishes, "so,put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee".
Love of God, Love of self and Love of others is also a difficult principal to live by. Because the word Love means so many different things to so many different people that it is hard to define for your self, so, this is where my religion comes in and has helped me to identify just what that love is. And my definition is still being formed, but, at present it means to have a caring attitude towards God first, my self second and all other people as well, valuing their opinions and feelings equally with my own. Doesn't mean I need to agree with them it does mean I need to value them.
And of course that leads to open mindedness. Open mindedness does not mean I must accept some one else s opinions and therefore adopt them as my own. That would send me into a tail spin of compromise in all areas of my life. Love dictates that I must value the other persons opinion as much as I value my own. If I am truly living by this principal I would give no rise for conflict with any person even in discussions of religion and politics where we disagree because I then could truly listen to the other persons opinions and experience without judging them or seeking an argument and they would be more open to hearing why I value my opinion and experience.
The principal of Industry is simply defined in the word work. It means to me to work for my bread and work for the pleasures of my life and to do the best I can for my God at all times. This is the simplest of the principals to live by for me until I add the most important ingredient to this principal and that is "without a bad attitude or ungrateful heart". Realizing that God is my employer does change my attitude toward all I "work" at.
To sum it up, Jesus said it best when He said:
Mat_6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you
So what do you think?
Please let me know by making a comment.
Non-abusive comments will be published even if you disagree.
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