What kind of foundation is your life built on?
What principles have you built your life around?
There's a difference between acting on principles and simply the desire to do right. Most people sincerely want to do the right thing. But it can be difficult during the wind and rain of a crisis. That's when they need a solid foundation built on principles. So what about your foundation?
Do you have principles about forgiveness? Jesus gave the gift of forgiveness, but do you simply forgive when and where you feel like it? Or do you have basic principles about forgiveness that will overcome your feelings in individual instances?
Do you have principles about not talking negatively about people behind their backs? Jesus had a lot to say about kindness.
Do you have principles about prayer? Wouldn't it be a good thing if you had a principle that you would never eat food without first saying a prayer of thanks to God?
Then there's generosity. Jesus spoke a lot about that. do you simply give when and where you feel like it, or do you have a principle, perhaps, of giving a percentage of your income to God and to those in need?
So what principles have you built into your life? Are you on sandy ground so that when the rain falls, the torrents come, and the winds lash against the house, you fall apart?
Or is your life solidly built on rock, putting into practice the things that you as a baptized person believe?
- Little Burgundy Book, Diocese of Saginaw