Here's one important truth about me: I have a tender heart. I offer compassion and go out of my way to be helpful. Why? Because of my faith, I believe that this is what God wants most of me, to be sincere and true to all forms of life. If you need someone who will listen, you are trustworthy and sympathetic, I will be direct with you; when you need advice or counsel, and I’ll offer it in a straightforward, direct manner, without beating around the bush.

I’m smart enough to know that I cannot take good care of others if I fail to take good care of myself, so I listen to my own wants and needs. If I’ve run out of sympathetic energy, I spend time restoring myself. If I've ignored my own pain or frustration, I keep close with a long standing network of friends who will listen well, or I will go into my own private healing place and give myself permission to focus on me.

Before long, I’m back in true service to the God of my understanding, the same God we all are a part of and worship in our own individual live expressions of truth. I will be offering a sympathetic ear and sincere compassion on which people and all of nature have learned to trust. I am open to giving straightforward advice and counsel when it is asked for. I do know how to take care of myself, but my genuine interest is in taking care of my family, friends and all other delights of God's great creation.

Here are some things I have been looking into more seriously in my life,

may they be helpful to you also.

1. Thankfulness: It is the habit of my life to thank God and others for what they have done...I can honestly say that I am a thankful person and often express my gratitude.

2. Gentleness: I aspire to keep my life free from all outbursts of selfish anger or rage. I am approachable, quiet in spirit, open to criticism, and don't get defensive when I am corrected or rebuked.

3. Humility: I do not have an inflated self-opinion and consistently consider others as equal with myself. I have a teachable spirit and avoid all bragging, name-dropping and spiritual pride.

4. Pure Attitudes: My lifestyle is one of the right relationships, not just outwardly but inwardly too. I have no hate, ill will, malice or bitterness toward any other person anywhere on this earth.

5. Acceptance: I refuse to fight back when people criticize, condemn, reject or complain against me, even if they do it with what my ego percieves as wrong motives. I practice giving a soft answer to turn away their wrath.

6. Peacemaking: It is my practice to try to bring peace between others who are at odds. I don't just stand by and allow division to fester without trying to get involved to bring peace.

7. Boldness: I have been able to launch out and take risks for my beliefs, keeping fear under control and taking risks when God calls me to do something. There is nothing now that God is asking me to do which I'm resisting because of fear.

8. Trust: I believe that God is guiding my life and situations. My life is one of simple reliance on an open friendship with God. I'm free from fretting, worry or anxiety about the future.

9. Persistence: It is normal for me to hang in there, when I am acting in healthy ways, when things get difficult, stressful and unrewarding, even if I must face suffering, difficulty and persecution. My persistence keeps me from giving up too easily and I just keep on keeping on.

10. Harmony: I'm not a participant in any group evil like quarreling, dissension, fighting or factions in my family or in my place of worship, fellowship or work.

11. Submission/Surrender: I do not resist those placed in authority over me, even if they're less competent or gifted. I "turn my will and life over" to the care of God, it means I follow God's direction even if I question it at first.

12. Right Relationships: Reflecting on all my relationships past and present, I'm able to say there are no broken relationships with anybody, anywhere, which I have not attempted to straighten out. There are broken relationships that with willingness and perserverance I have learned to respect that with God's help will find resolution in His time.

13. Giving Living: I regularly practice generous giving to my family, place of worship, and through service as I am not wealthy and money is not always as helpful I give service to the homeless, helpless, widows, orphans, and other needy folk Generosity is a normal behavior to me.

14. Family Time: It is the routine of my life to control the amount of time I spend in work, pleasure or other activities which take too much time from my family. I obey my spiritual leading and make my Family time the top priority of my relationship life.

15. Forgiveness: If there is an individual or group of people who have hurt me in the past, I release my resentment, bitterness or grudge against them. I have fully forgiven everyone who has ever hurt me. When a group stands on what I percieve as fiction it is the fiction not the people I work to gain a greater understanding or acceptance of or bring to my truth which may be helpful to them.

16. Restoring others: I hurt when temptation overtakes a brother or sister in the Family or elsewhere in my life, so I do not avoid or exclude them; rather I often get involved, humbly coming alongside to help them back to their feet spiritually. Sometimes this involves me stepping aside for a while in prayer and meditation and like my friend Shotsy says, "Come back when you feel well and ready."

17. Restitution: If I've ever taken things which do not belong to me, or hurt people by what I said or did, I have gone back and made restitution for everything my God has prompted me about so far (knowing that my God would not prompt me to do so if it would cause harm to me or another person).

18. Resisting Materialism: I resist the grasping materialistic lifestyle of my culture, choosing rather to live a life of contentment and satisfaction with what I have. I'm not always "wanting more".

19. Selfish Ambition: I have laid aside all envy and selfish ambition. I have no jealousy of another's success. I do not eagerly hunger to climb the ladder to gain personal power and position.

20. Spiritual Intimacy: It is the routine of my life to spend time alone with God each day to read spiritual books, meditate and pray...and beyond that I "practice the presence" of my personal frienship with God all day long. I'm constantly sensing God's surrounding presence in my life like the air I breath.

21. Thought Life: My thought life is absolutely free from all hurtful thoughtstoward myself or others, and from time to time when it is not I seek guidance through prayer, meditation and sincere friendships until it is.

22. Truthfulness: My yes is yes, my 200 is 200, my five-point buck is a five-point buck, and the fish is whatever size it is. I totally avoid half-truths, white lies, flattery or exaggeration. I practice absolute honesty both in my relationships with others and myself. I do not lie in order to allow myself or others to avoid unpleasant emotions.

23. Tongue Stewardship: I abstain from slander, gossip, harshness, unkindness, biting criticism, caustic remarks, obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking. Instead I use my tongue to build others up, giving words of encouragement, comfort, help, inspiration, and challenge. My tongue is completely under God's control.

24. Living in Truth: I typically share my truth with both those who feel simularly and those who do not every time my God prompts me to do it. I understand that there are as many relationships or lack of relationships with God as there are faces on bodies, flowers on plants and stars in the sky both day and night.

25. Spiritual Passion: I hunger to become more spiritual and take my spiritual growth seriously. I do not ignore, dismiss or excuse areas where I fall short, even those I have listed above, since I have a spiritual passion for becoming more like the God with whom I am but a temple of understanding of and whom would have me be, the I AM of Her/Him/It.

__________________

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Theophilus Nicholson

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