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Bible and glasses

Principle-Centered Living

Webster defines the word “principle” as:

“a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption; a rule or code of conduct” [1]

Everyone lives by a set of principles. Not everyone’s principles are the same, but everyone has rules of conduct that guide his or her actions and decisions every day. Everyone has some sort of belief system – a set of laws, doctrines and assumptions that he or she believes to be fundamentally true.

Where do these principles come from? For me, there are a number of sources.

  • Naturally, I learned a lot about the fundamental truths of life from my parents as I was growing up. As a result, many of my principles are a direct reflection of my parents’ influence in my life.
  • I have also learned much about life simply by living it. I try to pay attention to the things going on around me. I study people. I’ve found that there is much to be learned simply by observing and paying attention.
  • From a very early age, I have been a firm believer in the existence of the God of the Bible. I grew up going to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night of my life. The Bible and its teachings have become the foundation, more than anything else, for my understanding of what is right and what is wrong.

All of these influences have combined to produce a set of fundamental principles that serve to guide me through life every single day. These principles are my paradigm, the glasses through which I look at the world and everything in it. They help me understand life and keep things in perspective. They keep me balanced and help me refocus from time to time on what is important. They are my code of conduct. They are the laws, doctrines and assumptions that I believe to be fundamentally true.

About The Principles

But what exactly are these principles? One night I decided that I would attempt to define the specific codes of conduct, laws, doctrines and assumptions that make up my own set of principles. I had no idea how easy or difficult it would be to identify and codify these fundamental principles that have become the moral underpinning of my existence, but I needed to at least try. I figured it would be kind of a fun adventure, and it was.

I sat down at my computer and created an empty list of 100 numbers. I figured 100 principles was a good goal. I started thinking about the things my parents had taught me, the lessons I had learned in Bible classes as a child, the lessons I had taught in Bible classes as a minister, the things I had learned from my kids, and anything else that I considered to be fundamentally true. To my surprise, it didn’t take me long to get to a hundred! I realize that this is probably not a comprehensive list. In fact, in the days immediately following that initial exercise, I thought of a few more items that were not included in the original 100 and added them. I will continue adding other principles from time to time as I think of them.

My list of principles contains some items that are obvious and universal, some that are quirky and not at all universal, some that may seem silly (but that I believe still belong on my list), and some that may be completely unique to me. I share it with you for your enjoyment, amusement, encouragement, or whatever else you might get out of it … and I encourage you to sit down some evening and put in writing the principles by which you live, the fundamental truths that define who you are and what you believe. God bless you on your journey.

Here they are … THE PRINCIPLES <<<< (click it, if you want).

About Me

If you would like to know more about the man behind The Principles (me), click on the picture below.

If you don’t want to know more about me, don’t click on the picture. (I tried to make this as simple as possible.)

Either way, God bless you! And happy principle-centered living.

Paul O'Rear

Paul O'Rear Signature

 

P.S. Don’t forget to check out “The Principles“.

 

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