Honesty

We all experience the presence of buoyancy time and again. Whether I am enjoying the simplicity of an afternoon of fun and relaxation in the park, a social gathering in the community or an intimate get together with friends/family, I have found that the term “I love……” is used far more frequently today. The statement “Oh my God, I love………” is a popular phrase both young and older people have coined into their mode of expressing this powerful emotion. Quite honestly, I hear the phrase “I love…….” being used so often that I have begun to question the nature of the sentiment.

Do you ever find yourself asking the question, “Are you serious? You don’t even know________? This inquiry seems to really surface when I hear people describe artistry – music, art, poetry,

John Legend~Get Lifted (Photo credit: bamalibrarylady) There’s More to It!

dance, etc. – as people are describing how what they see and hear affects them to their core. John Legend is a gifted male musician/vocalist. His timeless hit “Ordinary People” moved many fans to listen to that song over and over again. We could not hear it enough when it hit the airwaves; we bought the CD in bulk to give to friends/family as gifts; we flocked to his concerts to hear his live version and I am sure that even now, after many more tunes he may perform, nothing will stir the crowd more than when he begins to play the opening cords to “Ordinary People.” If you ever found yourself caught up in the storm that was “Ordinary People” you may have said “I love John Legend.”

I can not begin to understand why love is such a flippant expression. Personally, I believe that my own personal entanglement with the human elements attached to the expectations of “love” have challenged my perspective on how I receive the term when I hear it. Today I am not so quick to readily apply my personal understanding of love to another person’s expression of love. It is fair play to naturally navigate through the varied currents of love with a relative outlook. But one thing that I can understand about love, no matter how trivialized, over emphasized or grandiose it may be is this – LOVE NEVER FAILS.

People fail. Systems fail. Every aspect of human experience has the potential to fail. How can you love something or someone else when you don’t love yourself through your own failures? A battle between the intellect and the emotion continues. But God is LOVE! He is the solution to every issue with love. Everything that He Is is LOVE. From the onset of Creation until today and beyond, FAILURE IS NOT IN HIS repertoire. His example is not to be understood but instead, trusted.

We ALL need Love and we NEED to be able to express true, unconditional love. Life breeds love of all types. Often times, the love that I hear about and even describe today is absent of depth. It can be turned on/off at a whim. This is dangerous.

An assessment on the state of the heart (https://conquerorshots.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/check-up-on-the-heart/) will reveal the subsequent harm done to a person’s core if you are willing to be honest about what love truly is. (I Corinthians 13) There can be an enormous debate over the fluidity of love. Because it stems from the core i.e. the heart, human interpretation is subject to many differences of opinions.

Here at ConquerorShots we are united in the belief that if you want to understand, practice and experience true love, God is the reference source. Specifically, if ever you are perplexed over the idea of what love truly is, what it does and how to give and receive it, we recommend a trip to Calvary and all of the details including the Resurrection for the most honest, revealing, life-enriching display of love. It will shape your life’s existence of true love and provide you with wisdom to know otherwise.

That’s what you are wearing? Really??? You can’t be serious? What do you mean by that? How are you going to do…….? Do you know what you’re doing? These are some open-ended questions that I can either ask myself, someone else or they can be asked of me. The theme of all of these questions, and many others,is they all come from our soul. They are genuine responses to core issues that are apparent to the presenter of the question. The issue is evident because of particular actions that are obviously in need of questioning. Why?

Honesty is an important character trait that affects all our lives. When used properly it produces hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, love, forgiveness, discipline, awareness and service to others. Effective service is when you do something from the goodness of your heart – NSA(no strings attached) These spiritual principles are God-inspired traits we all must experience as time goes on.

Lunaria or “honesty plants” give us defined characteristics that can really help us see the beauty in honesty. The caption under the plant below details how I can make the correlation to my own honesty.

Seeds of truth are the source of my intrinsic values that germinate honesty. When I was a child I received those seeds from my parental guidance, my elders and my experiences in the church. Fundamentally, each group had two key reference points – The Bible and the world. The experiences that I had, the lessons that I heard and learned growing up were “seeds” that were sown into my core which began to germinate into absolute truth which I base my thoughts, ideas, beliefs and goals on. John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

When the lunaria seeds are planted it is important not to cover them with too much soil. This is true about “the truth” in our hearts. Sin can do to our hearts what soil can do to the seeds, that is impede upon the growth process. David said in Psalm 119:11 ” Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Daily reading and meditation on the Word of God is essential to the manifestation of truth in our hearts. We live in a world where all kinds of distractions from the truth of God’s Word exist.

Once truth is at work in our lives the affects are many. It is regenerated repeatedly due to all of the seeds it produces in our lives and the lives of others. If you deposit God’s Word into a child’s life in the first two years on a consistent basis it has the power to manifest for the remaining years of his/her life. It can be grown in any kind of heart, under virtually any adverse condition and without a constant source of light. THIS IS MY STORY!!!! Proverbs 22:6 reads “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. “

For many years I heard the scriptures. As a child I read them and even studied them. As a teen and young adult I began to share them with others. In my marriage and parenting I shared them even more and I found out about the personal attachment I had to them which was growing even when I was unaware of the growth they caused. All of my references to truth were systematically developing my character trait – honesty.

I always knew when I was being honest and when I was lying. The choice to allow truth to be the litmus test for my decisions and subsequent actions was learned behavior. Who was the teacher? God. What was the classroom? Life. Do I always make the choice? No. However, I see that there is a heightened awareness of my progress in this area.

I try to keep this really simple. When I am allowing honesty to work in my life it allows me to get some amazing results. The other 11 principles are the beginning of my reality that I like the affects of a lifestyle based in honesty. The more I experience the benefits of honesty the more I am willing to incorporate it into my daily activities. Christianity is the central component of my life that affords me the liberty to realize just how magnificent honesty is. Every day I experience the truth of the Word of God faithfully revealing new mercies, faithfulness, grace and power.

2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Meaning of honesty (shaibugift.wordpress.com)

We ALL need Love and we NEED to be able to express true, unconditional love. Life breeds love of all types. Often times, the love that I hear about and even describe today is absent of depth. It can be turned on/off at a whim. This is dangerous.

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