Before you ask life—or God—to change the result, check the behavior producing it.
Truth does not need an explanation, excuse, disguise, or hiding place. It only needs you to come clean.
TAKE NOT OF THE SIMPLICITY OF IT ALL
We are all familiar with behavior and the different returns it produces.
Good behavior gives one return. Bad behavior gives another. Doing nothing produces another result entirely.
Shouldn’t we encourage ourselves to be on our best behavior?
Why not?
Isn’t putting your best foot forward the way to invite the highest and best results? The opposite applies when we choose the poorest behavior too.
CAN YOU IMPROVE?
If you hesitated before answering, you have some work to do.
If you immediately began arguing, explaining, or making excuses, you may have even more work ahead of you.
Look at how we enter this world for a clue. Our education begins early. Other people teach us, life teaches us, and eventually we must learn to teach ourselves.
We discover what helps us—and what takes away from us.
RIGHT OFF THE BAT
“You didn’t say the magic word.”
What was the magic word?
Please.
Then we learned thank you, excuse me, may I help you, and may I get you something?
These were not merely polite expressions. They were some of our earliest lessons in recognizing that our behavior affects other people—and eventually comes back to affect us.
The Richie Reverse Rule makes this easy to understand.
RICHIE REVERSE RULE
Be rude, rogue, dishonest, or indifferent toward others and watch what happens.
Doors begin closing. Trust disappears. Cooperation dries up. You may believe everyone else has the problem while you slowly descend into an abyss of your own making.
And if you use polite words without meaning them, it can become even worse. Words without sincerity are only disguises.
Civilization depends upon people agreeing that certain behaviors help life while others injure it.
LET’S BRING GOD INTO THE MIX
When we examine historical and ancient spiritual teachings, we find clear guidance about what is—and is not—acceptable to the Creator.
Human beings were given stewardship, authority, creativity, conscience, and the ability to reason. We can examine our conduct and change direction.
A plant cannot apologize.
An animal does not sit down and reconsider its moral position.
But you can.
COMMON SENSE
Human beings reward conduct that benefits life and discourage conduct that harms it.
Parents correct their children. Communities establish standards. Courts impose penalties. Employers reward dependable people. Friends decide whom they can trust.
Is it so far-fetched to believe that the Creator also recognizes what is helpful, truthful, and good—and disapproves of what is destructive?
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Could certain boundaries have been made any clearer?
The Ten Commandments reveal a great deal about truth, respect, faithfulness, responsibility, and our treatment of other people.
Can anyone honestly claim complete success in keeping them?
Even the most devout person recognizes failure, seeks forgiveness, and begins again.
That recognition is not weakness. It is the doorway back to truth.
LET’S SIMPLIFY AND ZERO IN
There are boundaries we should not cross while living our lives.
Continue crossing them and you invite consequences. You may temporarily escape the judgment of other people, but you never escape your own heart.
The opposite is also true.
When we behave honestly, we become available for guidance, trust, peace, approval, and better results.
ANYTHING GOES?
Sometimes our ambition or desperation takes us right to the edge.
It becomes a razor’s edge.
Once we cross it, we can begin losing even when it appears that we have won.
A dishonest victory carries its defeat inside it.
Darkness works through deception, shrewdness, trickery, and beguilement. Without truth lighting the way, you can mistake a trap for an opportunity.
PAUSE FOR CAUSE.
Something is not automatically right because it worked.
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND—I HAD TO DO IT”
Be careful with that sentence.
Explaining can become a form of denial when we use it to defend something we already know was wrong.
Whatever you argue for, you get to keep.
God knows the past, present, and future. We are bound by time; He is not. He knows what is happening inside the human heart.
There is no hiding behind explanations.
Truth is actually a very simple existence.
The heart knows.
THE TRUTH PARADOX
You are the first person to know what you did—or failed to do.
No one is excluded from this system.
You know when you lie.
You know when you manipulate.
You know when your words say one thing while your intentions say another.
So, if we are knowingly employing falsehood while asking God for help, forgiveness, healing, and prosperity, shouldn’t we first examine what we are bringing to Him?
KEEP IT SIMPLE—COME CLEAN
Stop doing the wrong, and right can finally get to work.
Assess yourself. Make good where you can. Ask forgiveness. Change the behavior. Begin again correctly.
It is available. It is doable.
But you must be sincere.
God, who loves you beyond your understanding, has plans for you and has set aside a portion of life that is exclusively yours.
Do not let dishonest behavior keep you from recognizing or receiving it.
FINAL THOUGHT
Before asking why the blessing has not arrived, check whether your behavior is prepared to receive and keep it.
PEARLS INSIGHT
Truth is not merely something you tell others. Truth is the condition you establish inside yourself.
PEARLS FROM THE BOOKS
The Pearls message repeatedly returns to personal responsibility: your choices become instructions that life eventually follows.
PEARLS CONNECTION
Better behavior is not punishment. It is alignment—bringing your actions, conscience, faith, and desired results back together.
RICHIE SPEAKS
Don’t waste time trying to make wrong look right. Come clean, correct it, and allow the right to get to work. God already knows—and deep down, so do you.
FINAL SAY
Truth does not require perfection.
It requires honesty, correction, and a willing heart.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
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