THE CREED

THE CREED

As God as my witness, I will never allow the actions, reactions, or behaviors of another person steal away my soulfulness, rob me of passion, or crush my God-Breathed Spirit.

I will never sacrifice the Creator’s Plan nor Christ’s mission that I have so graciously been given and humbly have received for any earthly relationship, selfish ambition, or temporary gratification.

I will never allow my happiness to be dictated by the approval, love, or faith of any human, and I will never allow my self-worth to be determined by the reflection of anyone’s mirror other than the eyes of my Creator.

I will find purpose in my pain, wisdom through my weaknesses, and fruition from my failures.

I will never create expectations for my life and then be disappointed when my own feeble attempts to plan for the future fail.

I will never forget the value of whittling.

I will choose to be a human being rather than a human-doer, realizing that it is in Silence that the voice of God is the loudest.

I will always remember the power of Breath.

I will never overanalyze the situation to the degree of loosing the experience of the moment. I will release my instincts to control and replace them with the seeds of faith.

I will learn to rest as hard as I work – and play even harder. Realizing that you can never give away what you do not have.

I will view my need to please others, to impress, gain attention, approval, or admiration as mere insecurities. I will view these insecurities as cracks in the Solidity of my Soul – which can only truly be filled with the knowledge that I need little but the Intimacy with God as my Creator, my Savior, my Soulmate, my Husband, and my Friend. I will choose to love my Lord above my family, my friends, my desires, my lusts, and my need to control my present and future

I will never loose my sentimental ideals, and I will never forget how I learned them.

I will never hunger for the approval of others, but will hunger only for those things with which I can have guaranteed fulfillment – God’s love and lessons. I will realize that allowing others to define who I am through their opinions and thoughts is in fact giving them the power over my spirit. Therefore I will only define myself as a child of God who is seeking to be filled only by His Love.

I will think with my head and love with my heart.

I will value relationships as treasures and will view all people as children of the most high God – deserving equal respect. I will realize that because of the beauty of uniqueness, there is a richness of growth and a wealth of wisdom lying within each soul. I will become a part of each person I meet and they will become a part of me. Realizing that the lessons learned in each of our individual journeys can turn waywardness into wisdom which we can each share by simply experiencing the other person.

I will never forget that the world needs garbage men.

I will seek to forgive – recognizing that there is always a story behind each sin and an intention behind each action – whether good or bad. Yet I will not confuse forgiveness with forbearance. I will not trade the loss of self-respect for another’s ego. Understanding that long before I can love my neighbor as myself, I must first learn love for myself in the cast of light gleaming from the love my Lord has for me.

I will never wait for others to believe in me for me to believe in myself.

I will see the less fortunate as blessed in ways that I may be blind to, yet commit myself to Thankfulness for the tiniest of gifts. I will value the song of a morning sparrow as equal to the smile of a child as equivalent to the richness of wealth. For True Wealth is based on the ability to have nothing and find contentment.

I will view life as a Canvas – A Canvas on which dwells the ability to touch all six senses simultaneously. But that possibility only comes by allowing ourselves to taste the fruit of experience, to touch the peaks of the mountains and the putty of the plains; to view the richness which colors bring of uniqueness, and to see the beauty beyond boundaries; to breathe the crispness of friendship, the freshness of children, and the wise fragrance of the old; to learn the art of just Being with Him and allowing His love to fill our spiritual senses with the peace of His touch, to taste the sweetness of His Spirit, to see His children through His eyes, and smell the savor of His grace; to hear Him whisper my name, and to sense the awesomeness of knowing that amidst the chaos of the world - He has thoughts individually and preciously purposed for me.

I will never confuse the Heart of God with the Humanness of His Children.

I will never allow vulnerabilities to create persistent pain – but I will make choices as what I will do with my hurt, anger, frustrations, and confusions – rather than reacting to them by pure emotion.

I will remember that no matter how much Cement is added to water, the Bond of blood will always be thicker.

I will soak in the Romanticism life brings as a passionate richness of living, while placing perspective on the realism of dreams. I will embrace fantasies momentarily and benefit from their emotion, while remaining grounded in the knowledge that we create our own reality.

I will have Hopes rather than Expectations, Prayers instead of Worries, and Requests rather than Demands. Being dependent on no ONE person to meet my emotional needs or to create happiness of heart – realizing that total dependence on God demonstrates Him as the only thing in life that is completely stable, consistent, and constant – never ceasing to exist or go away.

I will always embrace the freedom of disinhibition while remembering the safeness of boundaries.

I will recognize my Wholeness as absolutely obtainable separate and apart from any relationship with another person – but it is only possible when the created truly knows the Creator.

I will understand and embrace that being single does not mean being alone, and being alone does not mean being lonely, and that it is only in being Whole that we can promote wholeness and healthiness in any other relationship.

I will view Humility of Heart as the gateway to Solidity of Spirit. I will understand that true Humility is knowing your extraordinary value enough to deny the desire for others to recognize your greatness while having a deep comprehension that the existence of our priceless value was born out of the Creator of Grace – Blood Personified – through a degrading yet beautiful sacrifice of the Omnipotent Trinity.

I will see Grace as manifesting a desire to please the One who continues to be bountiful to the undeserving, rather than a permissible Will to be marginal in my walk with Him.

I will never doubt that being in Love is one of the most powerful connections known to man – and because of its power – it can break you, blind you, or bury you. But in the same breath, it can create such a comfort and completeness with the One, that the world could fall apart around you and you would never think to look away from their eyes. It is an amazing animal all to itself that must be honored with Royalty and embraced with Delicacy, yet caged in the realm of Reality for fear of it running freely over our hearts and souls. For even the most magnificent creatures must be tamed to be held.

I will always remind myself that if I love God above everything else – with my entire being – it will all fall into place; Recognizing that if He is pleased with me and my life decisions – the approval of His children is not needed; And to find the Peace that surpasses my own understanding, I must be in constant search for the Prince.

I will cease to compare myself to anyone other than my reflection, attempting to reach my self-made ambitions out of self-growth – separate and apart from the need to be better than the others by which I am surrounded and only out of attempts to be the best version of myself.

I will remember that there are problems that are solvable, people who are tolerable, and a Father that simply wants me to ask.

I will view the past as purposeful in my Journey toward Wholeness. I will see the future as non-existent – save in the mind of the Almighty. I will see the present as a sacred and precious opportunity to influence gently, choose wisely, and land softly – for everyone needs a mattress on which to fall.

I will see Beauty as the internal instinct to love the unlovable, touch the untouchable, believe in the unbelievable, hurt with the hurting, laugh with the joyful, and cry with the grieving. To show kindness to the coarse, to give to the taker, to forgive the unforgivable, to see brilliance in the broken – and above all to have the Heart of Christ.

I will remember in my solitude that I am Never alone.

I will refuse to play the superficial game by always making attempts to climb the mountain that continues to grow and striving to coddle my insecurities by overcompensating those things I believe others value.

I will view criticism as an open door which I can choose to enter or choose to not. I will taste of the critics words and choose whether or not to partake – based not on the sweetness – but on the applicable meaning. And if it so applies, and would benefit my growth, I will soak in the words and allow it to mold me into more of what He wants me to be. And if I find it not applicable – I will lay it down.

I will remember in my darkest hours to Simply Believe and life will take care of itself.

I will see Honesty as the foundation of all relationships, and without it the entire union is just smoke and mirrors.

I will learn to speak softly and listen loudly.

I will see Character as choosing to do what is right - not because it feels right - but because it is right. I will make every attempt to clothe myself with integrity and place the importance on the stance of righteousness over the judgment of the world.

I will seek Maturity in my journey through developing the ability to delay self-gratification, through learning the skill of self-deprivation, and through practicing reservation of thought, behavior, and impulses. In Maturity, I will develop the ability to see the outcome of my choices before they are made and therefore make wise decisions based on the desire not to repeat past mistakes.

I will not take any wooden nickels.

I will understand that making mistakes breeds opportunities for growth, but refusing to learn from them breeds destruction.

And with saying all of this – I will allow myself to be human and to make mistakes – and when I do, I will view Guilt as a God-given emotion, given for the purpose of progression and not for self-defeat. I will strain the good learned from every failure and absolutely leave the remaining heartache, shame, and remorse for God to wash away.

And above all, I will value the person God created me to be. I will remember that I was formed in detail by the fingers of the Almighty, and I will have respect for His Creation – seeking always His place for me and praying that the Hands of the Potter will continue to mold me and shape me into His Masterpiece.

And with God as my Soulmate – My partner in intimacy – I will overcome.

~ 2004