Ten Essentials for Life

I have been looking back over the vista of my life and reflecting on all those hills and valleys I have walked and marveling at all the path's twists, turns, and sidetracks! I have really been about reviewing the scrapbook of my life and categorizing things as monumental, incidental, and inconsequential. It's amazing to see the number of monumental events; they stand out as the mountains in the vista as I look back. Some were extremely painful, some were completly joyful but many were bittersweet.

I have also been examining my pack: what are my core values, the ten essentials of my life, that I carry with me on a day to day basis, so that I am prepared as I encounter the monumental, incidental, and inconsequential for the rest of my days? This process has been a fabulous one! I have been about decluttering my pack and lightening the load! What a relief! I don't have to carry around my family of origin and all their dysfunction and the pain they continually dish out! I don't have to carry around bitterness for hurts that were thrown to me from those whom I thought loved me in days gone by. I have been offered the opportunity to offload this junk! I am so relieved!

I came across this list today as I was reading "A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants". It has 9 things on the list. See if these are 9 essentials that you can agree with:

1. I declare myself to be a world citizen.
2. I commit myself to lead an ecologically sound life.
3. I commit myself to lead a life of creative simplicity and to share my personal wealth with the world's poor.
4. I commit myself to join with others in reshaping institutions in oreder to bring about a more just global society in which each person has full access to the needed resources for their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth.
5. I commit myself to occupational accountability, and in so doing I will seek to avoid the creation of products which cause harm to others.
6. I affirm the gift of my body, and commit myself to its proper nourishment and physical well being.
7. I commit myself to examine continually my relations with others, and to attempt to relate honestly, morally, and lovingly, to those around me.
8. I commit myself to personal renewal through prayer, meditation, and study.
9. I commit myself to responsible participation in a community of faith.

the above list is taken from Visions of a World Hungry, by Thomas G. Pettepiece

I would add my tenth essential, which really simply is,
10. I commit myself to searching out , discerning, and following the model of life Jesus Christ demonstrates through the Word of God.

So, what are you ten essentials for traveling through life?