Life Principles: Bondage or Freedom

Often people believe that living by principles limits them.  But living by standards can give you the freedom to live your Truth.

As a child, my experiences (projection of pain from others) led me to the student approach to life.  A series of events followed my plea for help. First, I read the entire King James Bible.  Next, I memorized the Lord’s prayer in 15 minutes.  Then, I absorbed Jesus’ character and identified with aspects of his life (poor, criticized, His life had purpose and meaning).   In addition, I added my mother’s life principles to my moral foundation.  I kept the good I saw and away from the bad as much as possible.  Although there were several potholes along my path, I believed the principles I adopted in life helped me from falling too deep within them.  I never considered myself religious but a spiritual being seeking the Truth.  

I never try to push my beliefs on others, but life continues to teach me that our beliefs play a critical role in our overall health.  We choose careers, lifestyles, spiritual paths, friends, and other life paths.  And we take our beliefs and share them with the next generation, our children or others’ children.  As a result, we cultivate a cycle of pain or a cycle of love.  I never saw the Bible as a religious book.  Instead, I see Truths that have played out in my life.  I believe God is not limited to books, and the Creator of this world and beyond lives within us.

Living by principles can help guard against weeds such as anger, fear, doubt, resentment, shame, vengeance, and other life-draining weeds.  Weeds, as you know, can stunt a plant’s (life) growth by robbing it of its life-sustaining nutrients.  When we forgive people (Luke 12:34), embody love (1 Corinthians 13) have faith in a higher Higher that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28).

Living by principles can help us avoid many of life’s experiences and potholes.  Keeping our minds on the bigger picture (hope and a future, Jeremiah 29:11) means our life has a purpose; we can look for the good in our experiences.

The Bible teaches us life-sustaining principles such as loving one another (John 13:34), forgiving (Luke 23:34), and edifying others (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

My mother, a nonreligious person, didn’t teach from the Bible. Still, she taught us many life principles with biblical reasonings, such as giving from the heart and expecting nothing in return, and you don’t have to do anything to anyone.

Living by principles can help by:

1. Warding off anger, bitterness, jealousy, and the like when we embody the principle of Love.  
2. Believing that anything is possible. We don’t want to dominate others or demoralize ourselves.  Our goal is to help others out of bondage by first being true to ourselves.
3. Reminding others that their experiences don’t define them and live by the Purpose principle.

Ask yourself.

1. What principles guide my life?
2. Which principles have I adopted that no longer serve me and humanity?
3. How can I adopt principles that invigorate me daily and help me become the best version of myself?

With every experience, we have an opportunity to express the Truth in us.  Daily, we cultivate the deeds and thoughts that feed the Truth within us.

Make this lifetime great!  You still can!

Timika