Lies may seem advantageous, but truth is stronger than deceit, and eventually truth will win out. So those who build their lives on truth (neither believing lies nor speaking them) are building on a foundation that will stand the test of time.
If we’ve lost touch with the enjoyment of our food, we need to return to that enjoyment as part of the simple life. Perhaps we would do well to turn back the hands of time. Remember how easy it was long ago to revel in the simple pleasures of innocent, God-given life?
Surely one of the most powerful motivations to right living is that it is conducive to the highest good of our fellow humans. Even when no words of moral encouragement are able to be spoken, the mere example of doing what is right is a great gift.
In our personal relationships, we ought to see the value of variety, and this is certainly true in marriage. If you are married (or even in a romantic relationship leading to marriage), you should give the gift of healthy variety to the relationship.
We must help others to see how great their possibilities are, and then help them to have the courage to do what they’re capable of doing. When we do this, we are often astonished to see how much more they were capable of than we thought!
Contentment doesn’t mean we are complacent or have no longings. It means that whatever our unmet needs may be, we have the wisdom and strength to deal with them rightly. Above all, it means that we are joyously grateful for what we have right now.
None of us is anything more than a work in progress — but progress is what we need to be making. Our imperfections are no reason to throw away the ideal of holiness. And the ideal will never be ours if we don’t reach for it reverently.
Your interactions with other people would be nothing less than transformative if they started seeing you as one who enjoys giving abundantly and plenteously. It’s hard to imagine what could make a greater difference than bountifulness in our giving.
It would be a fine thing if more of us sought mutual benefit in all our dealings. Other people are not our tools, and they have no more duty to serve our needs than we have to serve theirs. True benefit is always a two-way street.
Intuition and reason are not opposed; they are allies in our quest for truth. And in regard to the more important truths, intuition is the sensitivity that a person acquires after training the mind first to think carefully, to believe, and to trust.
