Honor, Humility, Hope and Love
It's Valentine's Day - I think of the above. Honor has an ancient and a modern connotation. In historical times honor had everything to do with challenge and saving face and in modern times the word 'respect' is often used by young males also challenging one another. A more righteous definition of honor would be; the courage to do what is right no matter what. A belief that your actions represent more than just yourself. A person of honor will not lie, cheat, nor steal, or tolerate those who do. A person of honor has honesty, fairness and integrity, in belief and action. In other words a person who loves themself, secure in the knowledge of right action.
One can never call oneself humble. That is for other people to do so. Like honor, the word has historical and modern meanings. Historically, humility was often described in religious terms and along the way it may have acquired the meaning of meekness, but I have learned humility through the extreme challenges that I have faced in my life. The opposite of humility is disdain, an overbearing pride or feeling of superiority towards others. Studies have shown that people with good leadership qualities gain respect and a following by exhibiting humility, self-awareness without self obsession.
Once again these people show the ability to love themselves in a balanced way.
Hope looks forward to a positive outcome. Gratitude looks back and gives blessings for what we have. Gratitude is an element of love and allows us to feel hope for the future.
So here we are at love. The many faces of love. Romantic love and also lusts for another. Love for our family members and pets. Love for our passions, work and play but none of this is possible if we do not love ourselves first. A big part of self love is observing one's ups and downs and learning from those observations. After a recent bout of depression I had an epiphany when I realized that the thing that had released me from that depression was thinking about a Pastor, Pastor Kit whose teachings I love. Listening to his voice describing that one should never apologize for one's faith and always feel free to exercise it, liberated me from the dark hole I found myself in. I was able to see myself with all my shortcomings but accept the person I am and appreciate myself for the personal challenges I have met successfully, and how I strive to have honor, faith, humility, hope and above all love myself and others.
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