Suffering

None of us like to suffer. We do not even like to hear or say the word. It is so difficult for us to go through times when we are not getting what we want, or things are not going the way that we think that they should. This is what we term as suffering. Suffering can be defined as an instance of pain or distress. Suffering comes many times from expecting our own way and not getting it rather than having a real instance of pain or distress. There are those times when real pain and distress enter our lives - the death of a loved one, the loss of a friend or marriage, etc, - but these are not always happening to most of us. Even when these this do happen we suffer because we tell ourselves that "it should not have happened that way." Anytime we think this, whether over the death of a loved one or the inability to get that new "toy" right now, suffering comes to us.

Since Jesus went through everything you're going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you'll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want. 1 Peter 4:1-2

We need to think of our sufferings as opportunities to let go of how we think the world should work and begin to accept the way that God is working in the world. We can no longer expect to get our own way all the time. In fact, as we die to our self, we no longer have a way that is ours. We begin to have a way that is only about allowing God to work. We begin to deny ourselves, our ego, and begin to allow ourselves to accept that God is in control. We do not let God be in control. God already is in control - that is reality. Our sufferings are opportunities to actually see and accept this reality that we are blind to. Use those opportunities today and in your life to allow yourself to see and accept the reality of God. When we can do this our days are full of pursuits of living in connection to God and what is best for us, rather that in pursuit of and controlled by our ego and its wants. This is a hard lesson that I am constantly learning, but it is so freeing to learn it. Swimming with the current is so much easier than attempting to swim against it.

Namaste'

Unsure

Ever been unsure? Ever had the nagging sense that you just don't know what is going on or what to do? What do we do in those moments? All I know to do is trust.

I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God's Spirit and God's power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God's power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else. 1 Corinthians 2:3

All we can do is just allow God to work. There is no mental or emotional "trick" or "shortcut" to some things in life. We just have to let God work as God needs. So today do just that. Allow God to work. All we can do is respond to God's power, not make it come down because of something that we do. Allow today to be as it was designed to be. Uncertainty will turn into to certainty and hope.

Namaste'

Assumptions

We all do it, we make assumptions. We tell ourselves that what someone said or what someone did meant something specific. We make an assumption about it. We say in our head, "well they did it because ......., "They said that because they don't really love me," on and on we go assuming what people have done and why they have done it. An assumption can be defined as something taken for granted or accepted as true without proof; a supposition: a valid assumption; resumption; arrogance. We all make assumptions and then quickly, without ever realizing it, we make these assumptions our truth. We then act on these "accepted truths" without proof of any kind and without checking them out to see if they are true. This is quite "arrogant"of us, at the definiton implies above. Jesus told us this....

He went on: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution."

Matthew 7:20-23

When I act in this kind of arrogance, making assumptions and believing them as true with no proof, Jesus reminds me that this is "vomit from the heart and the source of my pollution." We like to tell ourselves that it must be someone else and if they would just change in some way we would feel better. However, this change we want them to make may be based on a false assumption we have about thier behavior or communication. We also act angry and hostile towards others because we assume they met to wrong us, or that what they said or did was an intentional action to hurt. When we act this way based on assumptions and in arrogance we are not acting in loving and humble ways. We are being arrogant thinking that we must know what is right, but we never check it out. If there was two things that people could do to act in more loving ways towards each other and show the love of Christ it would be these two:

1) Do not take things so personally

2) Stop making assumptions.

Do that in the coming week. See the opportunity to not take things personally and not make assumptions as a way to understand and love others instead of be defensive and protect yourself and your ego. Let what comes out of your heart not be pollution but healing love and understanding.

Namaste'

Passionate Patience

This is similar to a word that I have used before, but this time I am talking about being passionate about being patience. This is so hard. I find myself going through it at this time in my life. I find that I am having to be patient in everything that I am facing and doing. I am having to "let go and let God." I am having to just enjoy my moments in life rather than think about or worry about the future. I find myself having to be aware of the moments right before me to be able to grow. I find more and more that I am turning my back on what the world thinks makes happiness.

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.
So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. 2 Peter 1:3-9

We all must work on our day to day behavior, understanding how spirituality is a way of life - not seperate from life. We must be alert in every situation do that we can exercise disciplines we have learned. This requires patience, wonder, kindness, and love. To truly be kind to those around me - the waiter at where I will have lunch today - I must be aware and alert in the moment to my spiritual life, my thoughts, to be able to act in love and kindness. If we, if I can do this, we are always growing in our spiritual life with our Master. This requires us to have passionate patience. In this world of drive thru meals and solutions to life problems, not many people are really ready to live a life of patience, much less be passionate about it. We actually grow faster with patience rather than attempting to speed this process up. Slow down your life and your thoughts today. Enjoy patience and let it be your teacher. Be passionate about patience today. Drive with the flow of traffic, wait in the line with no frustration, and let others take their time. See how you feel and see what you learn.

Namaste'

Flow

Have you ever been in that place that everything just seemed to be conspiring to work to your advantage? You know what I am talking about right? Every situation, every person, and all that you encounter just seems to go well even when it probably should not. If you watched the Super Bowl this year, or if you have ever watched any kind of sports, you have seen it many times. When the Giants were going down the field on that last drive to score the winning touchdown, many things happened that were just amazing. One of these events was the quarterback, Manning, was able to escape a sure sack, which rarely happens for him. Not only was he able to escape a sure sack, he threw the ball down the field to one of his receivers that caught the ball with one hand. He not only caught it with one hand, but while getting hit by an opposing player held the ball with one hand against his helmet, completing the amazing play. This was one is a number of sychronistic events that led to the winning of the Super Bowl for the Giants.
We have all seen this in different sports. A baseball pitcher who just throws every pitch right and pitches a no hitter. A race car driver who wins race after race. A basketball player who just does not miss a shot for a long period of time. You have experienced it also. You ask one of these people in sports how they did that and their response will be something like "I was just in the zone, I can't really explain it, it just felt good." When they say this, and when you have felt this, it is like there is nothing that you can do to mess things up. Really you do not even think about mistakes your only focus is on how "good and right" this feels and your only focus becomes on success. Failure never enters our mind as an option.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:28

I wonder if we have ever have experience this in our spiritual lives? I am sure that we have had those times when things are syncrhonistic, that meaningful coincidences happen and we do not see these things as coincidences at all, but the flow of life that God has ordained. This is happening all the time. Many times though we do not recognize it because our focus in on the mistakes that we plan to make and how things will not work out. I am sure that if you asked Manning before he took the field for that last drive he would say that he knew he would lead his team to the winning touchdown. He would not have doubted. Do not doubt God today. Know that every detail in your life when you are connected to God in love, acting out God's image in you, is worked into something good. Allow your life to be in the flow of God's love. Do not go against the flow of the love of God and attempt to "swim up stream" as I like to say. This causes us to get tired, depressed, angry, and worn out seeing only that life is so hard. Actually life can be fun and joyful when we are in the flow of things.

Namaste'

Need

You have all you need right now to be content and fullfilled. Let me say this again. You have all you need right now to be content and fulfilled. You do not need a raise, another job, a better friend, a better spouse, a move to a different place, or anything else you can think of. The first thought that most of us will have is "well you don't know my circumstances."

I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Philippians 4:10-13

Paul writes here that he does not have a sense of needing anything personally. He says here that he has found the recipe for being happy. In other versions it reads that he has found the secret to contentment. What is that secret recipe? It is finding our identity in Christ, in God. It is remembering that we are dead personally, that we have to die while alive. Dead things do not assert their personal needs. Dead things do not need anything. Dead things have to let other things go on living and allow something else control. God is the One who makes us who we are. Personally, we have no needs. This is such a hard place to get to. Our ego screams at us that we do need something, we do have to assert ourselves and make sure we live. Today, try to die. Allow others to be greater than you. Serve someone. When the ego wants to tell you that you need and that you will not be able to be happy or content unless that need is met, remember that the secret recipe is that you are a spiritual being that God is living through, your needs are already met. This will push away anxiety, anger, and frustration and let in peace, joy and love. This may be a moment by moment struggle, but one when practiced will brings a lifetime of contentment and peace and you will learn to be this way with little or with much. Let light live in you.

Namaste'

Set Apart

God is kind. How hard is it for us to think of God as kind? When we think of God as kind does it mean that we do not have to look at ourselves and change our thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes? Do we think of kindness as just God accepting us as we are and never having to look at ourselves because we have been accepted just as we are. I believe that this is true - that we are accepted just as we are - but this is only the first step.

You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change. Romans 2:3-4

God's kindness is just the first step. God uses this first step of kindness, or grace, to lead us into a "radical life-change." We are continuously in the process of being redeemed. We are continually in the process of change to let more and more of the spirit of God that is in us shine out to people that are in darkness. Specifically, we are constantly being challenged to practice unconditional love, kindness, and openness that can only come from changing our inward thoughts and beliefs. When we take this challenge and change inwardly the outside behaviors become different. We see the people and the circumstances of our life differently. Our actions change to meet this new way of thinking and believing. We love, accept, and are kind to those around us. Radical life-change takes place! What I am talking about here is deeper that just changing the music I listen to, or the things I watch on television, or if I stand up for moral behavior. This is radical life change in the sense that we no longer measure our spiritual maturity by those things, but rather by how much we love people, serve people, and are kind to people everyday without ever mentioning the name of God or Jesus. This is true holiness. This takes constant practice and is the hard work of sanctification. Sanctification or in its verb form, sanctify, literally means to set apart for special use or purpose, that is to make holy or sacred. Jesus was God and showed us what it meant to be "set apart." He loved like no other, cared like no other, and was kind like no other.

Can you allow yourself to work on being set apart? Can you see that God's kindness is only the first step? The journey of being set apart just begins there. We begin this journey to be different or set apart in order that we may join others and allow them to see God. This is your special use - to let the image of God be shown so that others will say, "Oh that is what God is like and I want that." If we never take the journey and really understand and know God, how will anyone else?

Namaste'

Thinking

Whatever you think about expands. I love that saying. I mean just think about it - whatever you think about expands. This means that if you focus on not being able to find a relationship, not having enough money, not being able to be happy because of some circumstance in your life, this things will continue to expand and take root in your life. It makes sense doesn't it? If you are worried that you will never find a relationship exactly what are you focused on - not finding someone. This makes you anxious, worried, frustrated, and sad - who wants to have a relationship with this kind of person? If you are focused on the fact that you do not have enough money what do you think will happen? You focus on the problems that make this true - I am stuck in a dead in job, I will never be able to do more than this, this will never end. How can you change this if you are just focused on the problem rather than solutions? We could go on and on with examples like this. Read the following passage:

Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, "Master, if you want to, you can heal my body."
Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Matthew 8:2-4

Jesus did not say to the man, "Well we are having a little trouble with leprosy today, you may want to come back tomorrow." "The chances of getting your leprosy healed are about thrity percent today." Jesus just did it. I am not saying that we can heal people, but I am saying that we are created in the image of God, with God's nature, God's spirit. So why do we not believe and think about things in a way to see the solutions rather than the problems. If you think that I will have a relationship it is only a matter of time, what happens then? Hopefully you are confident, happy, joyful and people are attracted to this kind of person. If you say to yourself in you thoughts that abundance will come my way and I will look for it, you begin to see the ideas and solutions to changing jobs, making more money, managing finances better. All of the sudden you have more. God does not doubt. Work hard today at "catching" yourself in your thoughts placing attention on the negative. Change those to thoughts of what is possible instead of what you think is not possible. Remember you came from a Creator that is always creating and expanding and never doubts it. This is a part of you! Remember that what you thing about expands and you get what you think about whether you want it or not.

Namaste'

Magical

So this afternoon I went and saw The Spiderwick Chronicles with my son. The last scene in the movie moved me to tears. You will have to watch the entire movie to know what I am talking about, but it was touching for me. Basically, Mr. Spiderwick spends his life searching for and chronicaling the magical creatures that lived all around but we can not see. He gets kidnapped during the movie and taken away by some of these magical creatures. His six year old daughter is left behind. The last scene he comes back 80 years later and says to her, "I am sorry I left you. I was so involved in looking at the magical creatures I had discovered I missed the most magical of them all." Not a direct quote, but close enough for you to get it. I was holding my son in my lap at that moment and just began to cry. I cried telling my wife about it. I am crying writing about it right now. I thought about how magical my son and wife are. They way they look at things, figure things out, grow emotionally, spiritually and physcially. The fascination they live life with and the true faith that my son has and acts on. They are truly magical and God has given me something truly magical to experience!

After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live.

Ecclesiastes 5:17-19

How I so much do not want to miss out on the magical creatures around me - my son and my wife! To remember that we all need to enjoy this life and make the most of what is handed to us instead of looking for something else to be magical. If we do look for other things to offer us magic and fullfillment - work, money, things, other people's opinions - we miss out on what God has actually given us. Do not miss out on it. Enjoy the magical creatures around you more than noticing those "magical creatures" outside of you. This is where God is dealing "out joy in the present, the now."

Namaste'

Good

God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature. So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them:"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth." Then God said, "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth and every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food."And there it was. God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six. Genesis 1:26-31

Who told you that you were not good? Here in the creation story God created human beings on the sixth day. If you go back and read the first twenty five verses of Genesis you will see that everytime God created something it is recorded that God said it was good. When he creates human beings, God-like - reflecting God's nature, it is recorded that God thought this part of creation was very good! What God created is good. We have this thought that what has been created is only evil and only evil resides in us and creation since "the fall." However, I do not think that human beings decision to attempt to find fullfillment in something other than their creator negates the good in us or in creation. There is evil and negativity in the world, but that does not mean that our nature, and the nature of creation is does not have goodness in it.

For example, many people will not listen to any type of music other than Christian. What makes music Christian? What makes music not Christian? God created music for enjoyment. Yes some people use music to promote evil, horrible ideas. Most music however, is about passionate good ideas of love, relationships, life, and emotions. Music can be used for any purpose, but was intended to be used to be enjoyed because "it was good." So we do not go around listening to music that is about hate or evil, but that also does not mean that we dismiss any music unless it has a Christian label because it is evil also. God created everything to be used for good and it was good when God created it.

You are good. Christ came to redeem the whole world back to God. The good is there are you using it? Or are you just writing it all off as evil, yourself as evil, just waiting for Christ to return? If you are doing this you are missing out on life that Jesus said he came to give us life and life more abundantly. Enjoy the good things in life. Enjoy and believe in yourself, God does. He created you for relationship with your Creator. Even when human beings did not make the right choices, the Creator came to redeem them because they were good. Know that you are loved, you are good and begin to act that way. Be confident and inspired knowing that God loves you! How can you ever reflect God's nature if you do not believe that you were created with it there and that it is there?

Namaste'

Identity

Where is you identity? What or who do you try to look like? Identity can be defined as the quality or condition of being the same as something else. So what are you trying to look like? Are you trying to look like everyone else at work, at school, or some other idea you have? We all do this. We all listen to our ego to find fullfillment in attempting to look like something that will make us feel good. We no longer find our identity in God, the source of all being everywhere, we go looking for it somewhere else. We forget that we are created in God's image and we have to find our fullfillment in our spiritual life. Fulfillment in attempting to find our identity in our physical life will never happen, it is not how we were created. We need to put that part of us, the ego, to death. Paul wrote in Romans:

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! Romans 8:12-17

Christ came to redeem the whole person, not just part of us. The best thing we can do is bury our old way of life and get on living a life of inspiration - a life that is connected to God's spirit - a life "in-spirit." When we are attempting to find our identity in life outside of God's spirit, we are not remembering that we are children and we have a father that is totally trustworthy. Today find your identity in God. Remember that you, yes you, are a child of the Creator of the universe. Those desires, lusts, that you chase after to make you happy leave you unfullfilled. Stop trying to tend to that life it is dead, bury it. Live an inspired life, connected to God remembering who you are and whose you are.

Namaste'

Everyone

All too often in the Christian church we become an exclusive club. We only allow people in who use the same language that we use to talk about salvation. We think that there is no way that God is in someone's life unless they have been "saved." We think that God only enters a life if we can get someone to make a decision to be saved. We develop this exclusive club that only sees God working in people who are just like us. However, God is always working in everyone and in everything. We sometimes just choose to acknowledge God in the way that we think God would work. It is true that people may ignore Christ and the truth that is in knowing this God. God is still at work. God is always there for everyone, whether they or we choose to acknowledge it or not.

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

Ephesians 1:11-12

Remember this as you go along your journey that God is everywhere and working in everyone because we all have the image of God within us. Just because someone may not have recognized the way we think they should have do not dismiss them as evil or someone to be pushed aside. Recognize that God is working in them and be the image of God for them because they cannot see it. Love them, pray for them, perform acts of kindness, and have compassion. Do this so they can say, "Oh that is what God looks like." This is the reality for everyone. We all need to see God. This is not a Christian problem or a church problem. This is a human being problem. We all forget the image of God within us even though it is there. It is for everyone. There is no club. Be humble to those you meet. Be kind in your everyday actions. Show everyone what God looks like without even mentioning God's name. This is why I always end with...

Namaste'

Non-Interference

What a word - non-interference. We like to interfere - intervene or intrude in the affairs of and meddle - in people's lives. We do this with our children all the time. We tell them to stop, quit, and don't. We solve their problems for them when they come to us and say that someone will not share, or that they had that toy first. We interfere and solve the problem for them handing one of them the toy, or making someone share. They never really get to learn how to do this themselves.
We do it with our partners, family members, co-workers, and friends. We want to "do it for them" because it is easier then showing them how to do it or allowing them to make the mistakes that would be required to actually learn the task at hand. Really we should be practicing love by practicing non-interference. Jesus taught us how to do this.

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Matthew 19:16-24

So does Jesus interfere in this young man's life? Does he follow him back to his house and help him sell all of his stuff? Does he show him how to have a yard sale? Does Jesus explain it over and over again to him? Does Jesus even stop him and say, "Well you did not understand me, so let me tell you again." Jesus practices non-interference with this man. He allows this man to walk away and figure out if he is willing to make these changes or not. Jesus loves that man that much. So much to allow him to go and make his own decision and work it out. Many times we think we are loving people if we could just help them make the right decision. If only we could do it for them and then they would understand. What a false way of thinking. Jesus tells us how false it is. Jesus say that it is easier to push a camel through the eye of a needle than to get this man to understand by doing it for him.

Think about it - it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle! And Jesus says that that is easier than trying to get someone to do something they do not want to learn. The impossible is more possible than trying to get someone to understand by doing it for them! So next time you would like to interfere in someone's life when they need to make a decision for themselves remember that it would be easier for you to get a needle and a camel and try the impossible. Practice non-interference and allow people to work out their own lives and decisions. Give guidance and direction, but allow them to work out the details. When my son plays with his cousins and they want to come to me or my wife with a complaint, our response is usually - "go work it out." They look at us funny and they do and they learn how to solve it. Allow God to work in others. Allow them to find the answers that work for them. Guide them and direct them but let them go with no interference.

Namaste'

Inward

The inward journey of Christianity. Let me say that again and let it sink into you deeply. The inward journey of Christianity. This is where Jesus becomes difficult for us. Many people who claim the title "Christian" like to do so because they have been "saved" and are waiting for their gloroius day to go to heaven. This allows them, or us, to not have to worry about changing their life right now. I got my ticket punched, my eternity is secure, and I can sit back enjoy the ride and tell others that they are going to hell if they do not accept Jesus. However, this kind of turn or burn philisophy of life and Christianity does tremendous damage. We think that we no longer have to deal with the inward person and its fears, hurts, anger, resentments and bitterness. Since we do not deal with this inner person this inner person continues to act out and portray to the world that Jesus does not really change anything, Christian are just hypocrites. We lie. We hate. We use our resentments to hurt. We allow our worries to dominate our relationships.
Jesus came to redeem the whole person. Jesus did not come to just save our souls from an eternal seperation from God, but to restore us to complete wholeness. When I understand this I begin to look at the following statements from Jesus in a whole new light!

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
Ask, Seek, Knock "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
The Narrow and Wide Gates "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7: 1-13

When we do not take this inner journey to look at ourselves and allow God to really change us, "broad is the road that leads to destruction." We become angry at others, we gossip about them, our anger gets in the way, our ego pushes our agenda not God's, and we look at our own needs and never the needs of others. We destroy ourselves and those around us. Do we dare ask the questions of ourselves, or allow others to ask the questions of us, that will expose our ego? Do we dare allow ourselves to die so that the way of Christ, the way of forgiveness, takes over? This is the small gate and narrow road "that leads to life and only a few find it." We find life and it gives life to all around us. When we do find it and we actually become a whole person in our thoughts, emotions, relationships, and physical body we find life right here and right now. God came to us to show us how to live. Jesus came to be the God-revealer. We take an inward journey so that we can be God-revealers. Are you willing to take that inward journey? Are you willing to allow someone in your life to ask you the hard questions? Can we sit down with our wives, our husbands, our children, our friends and ask them to be honest with us about when we have been selfish, angry, bitter, and hurtful? Can we open ourselves up to knowing when our ego takes over and we act rather than God's spirit acting? Can we "ask, seek and knock" and allow God to open this door so that the active journey of salvation can take place?

Namaste'

Die While Alive

It is Valentine's Day. I can think of no better way to think about love but unconditional love. When we think about dying we are usually thinking about the end of our life, hopefully when we are old and grey. However, today lets think about dying while we are yet still alive. What does this mean? I think that it means that we begin to love others without condition. To love others without condition involves us denying ourselves. We no longer love others because we will get something out of it, or because there is some reward waiting. Unconditional love means just that - without condition. Truly loving others without condition requires a denial of our needs, wants, and desires. Truly denying our wants, needs, and desires means that we have to die. This is the only time that our desires no longer live. Can that truly be done while we are still alive. My answer is an unequivocal YES! Jesus said to us:

"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?"

Matthew 16:24-26

Does this kind of death require some suffering? Jesus says to us yes and embrace it! Jesus says to follow him and he will show us how to do just that! To die means to cease living, to become dead, to expire, to cease existing. This must involve some suffering to really allow our ego, our self, our desires to die. Jesus says here that you must lose yourself to find yourself. You must die to yourself while you are alive. This means that our lives become whole and we completely find who we are, our identity in Christ. Anyone that has truly lived out this spiritual truth and knows it, experienced it, will tell you that this is where perfect peace, joy, and contentment lives. Mother Teresa said "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." True peace and joy comes from letting go of our desires and having them become God's desires. To die while alive and allow God's spirit to take over. When God's spirit takes over, unconditional love rules. We act in loving ways, kind ways, and humble ways. We join with everyone on Earth in the journey of knowing God.

Die while you are alive. Allow someone else to meet their desire's first. Let them have their way. Show them kindness. Make room for their frustration and anger. See them as a part of yourself and a spirit created in God's image. Make Valentine's Day everyday. This may come with some suffering when we allow our desires to go and die, but will be replace by much peace and joy when God's spirit fill us full!

Namaste'

God-Revealer

The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, 'the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.' I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer.

John 1:29

Jesus Christ is the God-Revealer. Think about that! Jesus reveals God. Reveal means to make known something concealed or secret or to bring to view and show. Jesus is God, but came in a human form to show us something that was once sealed or secret about God. Jesus shows us who God is, how God operates, and what God is. So when you think about Jesus what comes to mind? When you read about Jesus in the scriptures what do you remember about God? What does Jesus reveal to you about God?

I think that we should also be God-Revealer's. All I talk about in this blog is aimed at one purpose - to get us all to become God-Revealer's through our practice of spirituality. I do not think that we need to go around with tracks in our hands, Bible's ready at the hip, and looking to find the "sinners." We are all sinners, we all make decisions, we all do things that we wish we would not have done. I think that we need to look deeply within ourselves and see that those that we call "sinners" are just like us. They are us and we are them. We all as humans share this common theme of seperation from God at some time in our lives. I want to encouarage us all to become God-Revealer's and imitators of Christ through transformation of our hearts first. I pray that this transformation leads to the understanding that we are just like those we once saw as enemies. Since they are no longer enemies, but fellow journeymen/women in life, we love them. Through actions of love, a true knowing of the scriptures, and practices of selflessness we reveal God to others. We do not reveal God with a quoting of scripture that we have no experience of, or a confrontation of sin when we are not honest with our own. We actually build walls and hide God when this is what people encounter in someone who should be a God-Revealer. We are a God-Revelaer when we are patience, kind, loving, caring, and really know and experience the scripture acting it out without our Christian language.

Today think about how you could reveal God to others without them even being aware that this is what is happening. This is how Jesus encountered people. Jesus just loved, listened, showed kindness, was patience and somehow people left him with a deeper understanding about God. God was revealed. Be an imitator and then be a revealer.

Namaste'

Selfishness

I learned a great lesson last night. I learned how my selfishness brings about hurt in others and brings about a loss of freedom for myself and all those involved. I was asked to do something for someone. Instead of giving a simple "yes," or "o.k." I gave an excuse about why I did not do it. It came so naturally, so easily. It was so quick to allow my ego to take over in that simple moment. Why did that happen? I know. I had been thinking and worried about how things that I think I have done have gone unnoticed. I was telling myself, "Do they see anything I do for them," and "are they thankful for what I have done?" Since I was thinking about these things, and my ego was engaged, I quickly wanted to defend myself and come from a place of selfishness. I was very attached in that moment to being noticed for what I have done, appreciated for it, acknowledged that I had tried, and desperate to have someone tell me that I was worthy. When I did this I hurt myself and others involved. We lost our freedom to talk, to communicate and to love. Paul said it like this to the Galatians:

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? Galatians 5:13-18

My reaction was compulsive, sinful, and at odds with the way that Christ has asked me to live - to use my freedom to love. I was not led by the Spirit in that moment. I began to be annihilating - wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction - with my relationships. I lost the freedom that comes with being detached from the outcome. I forgot that my ego is dead and that my life is to be Christ's. The peace and freedom of allowing my life to be dead was lost because the demand of the ego to live was there and brought back my compulsions of a ego dominated life. I so clearly see how, when my ego is allowed to live, I become angry and selfish. I clearly see how it begins to interfere with my relationships. If in that moment (and all the moments before), I would have been able to not worry about how I was being perceived, to detach from any outcome of having to be noticed, and to not worry about being thanked - freedom and peace would have ruled. Christ's spirit would have ruled. I would have been able to say "sure," or "o.k" and love would have continued. However, since I was selfish and wanting these things anger ruled.

To truly not be selfish - What a practice to put in place! Notice your inner world today. Are you wanting someone to notice what you have done? Are you wanting, almost demanding that someone say thanks? What would happen if you did not worry about this but just did it because giving your life away is the call of God? What would happen in your life if you were detached from the outcome of being noticed or recognized? Experiment with it for a while and see what happens. What is the worst that could happen - freedom and peace?

Namaste'

Knowing

I love this word. To me it communicates what faith is really about. Most of us think that faith is about having a trust or belief. A knowing is really something far greater. I heard a great illustration of this recently. Most of us have heard about the game Guitar Hero. It is a Playstation game that has a toy guitar, made of plastice, hooked up to the game console. The toy guitar has primary color buttons on the neck of it and you are supposed to press the right color button at the same time it says to on the screen. When you do this correctly it sounds like you are actually playing the guitar. Many people say with a straight face - "I am so good at Guitar Hero!" They actually think they know about playing guitar. However, if we were to take a real guitar and begin to try and play we would see that the "toy" is nothing like the real thing. If people, who spend hours and days playing Guitar Hero, would actually put all that time into actually learning how to play a real guitar they could actually become a real guitar hero! So I can know about playing guitar with this game, but I really do not know how to play guitar. Paul says it like this:

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. I Corinthians 13:1-7

We can set every preset on our radio station to a Christian station. We can memorize the scripture and talk about it all day long. We can have all kinds of Bible verses hanging up in our office or our house. We can go to church all our lives, but if we do not love all those things do not matter. It would be like a cymbal crash without the band present. It is like a creaking rusty gate that gets on our nerves everytime we open it. People look at us and say "Is that what it means to be Christian?"

So someone can know the parable of the prodigal son. but if they are angry, bitter, and do not understand forgiveness - they do not really know the story of the prodigal son. Someone can know the greatest commandments quoted by Jesus, but if they are angry at their neighbor or frustrated with a member of their family - they do not know the greatest commandments given by Jesus. Someone can know that Jesus said to take care of the hungry and prisoners, but they do not know until they are standing with someone who is actually hungry or with no hope. A knowing is actually having the understanding, living out the experience, and putting into practice the truths of Christianity. Many people who call themselves Christians know how to live the way of Jesus, but very few know how to live the way of Jesus. Live the way of Jesus. Know the way of Jesus. Let love be action not just a knowledge that is kept in our heads.

Namaste'

Mercy

Have we experienced mercy? Do we know mercy? I mean more than do we understand mercy but have we really had an experience of mercy? How hard it is for us to realize that Christ came into the world to save us. What did Christ love save us from though? I think part of what Christ came to save us from was the terrible things we say and do to ourselves by believing we are not worth loving. Mercy is compassionate treatment and a disposition to be kind and forgiving. Christ had to come and give it to us because if we do not have an experience of it how could we ever give it away?

Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. I Timothy 1:15-19

Can we recgonize that we need to allow the mercy of Christ in? Do we really accept the compassionate treatment and do we treat ourselves with a dispostion that is kind and forgiving? Or are we hard on ourselves, unforgiving, telling ourselves that mistakes are not allowed and that there is no love for us unless we get it just right? The thought process that we operate out of for ourselves will also be the one that we will expect others to follow. Can you give the gift of mercy to yourself? Can you accept the gift of mercy that Christ gives showing you compassionate treatment? Catch yourself each time that you are not being kind and forgiving to yourself and remember that Jesus is compassionate and accept the gift. Practice this more and more until you are able to give it to those around you when they make mistakes that make you upset or angry. Imagine how this would change your family life, your work enviroment, your relationships with friends, your relationship with God. Truly an impact would be made on the world because we accept the mercy of Jesus and then become the conduit to give it to others who need it. Pray and meditate on this daily. Allow God to change your thought life, your heart. Allow yourself to be loved!

Namaste'

Love

Most of us as Christians would claim to know Jesus pretty well. My question for today is how do we measure how well we know Christ? Do we measure it by how many times we go to church? Do we measure it by how many times we have a "quiet time?" Do we measure it by how often we stand up against sin and the culture? I think that most of us measure our spiritual maturity by one of these measures at some point and time in our lives. We like to think that we know Christ if we can stand up for the "right things," spend time in church or in devotion. However there is another measure that is spoken about in the scriptures.

Here's how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.
If someone claims, "I know him well!" but doesn't keep his commandments, he's obviously a liar. His life doesn't match his words. But the one who keeps God's word is the person in whom we see God's mature love. This is the only way to be sure we're in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
My dear friends, I'm not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you've known it from day one. It's always been implicit in the Message you've heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!
Anyone who claims to live in God's light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It's the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God's light and doesn't block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn't know which end is up, blinded by the darkness. I John 2:2-11

Do we live the same kind of life that Jesus lived? Are we living in the way of Jesus? We cannot hate and say that we love God. We cannot hate the people we know and say that we live in the light because anger and hate is darkness. We have to begin to see the light in others, the God within them - Namaste'. We all have been greated in God's image and I believe our job as Christian is to know God and to being out God's life in others. This can only come by loving them. This can only be true by living out the two greatest commandments in the scriptures - to love God and to love others as we love ourselves. We do not want judgement, we want understanding. We do not want anger, we want kindness. We do not want criticism, we want to teach us. We do not want rejection, we want acceptance. We do not want hate, we want love. If this is how we would like to be treated, if this is who God has treated us - does it not stand to reason that this is the way to treat others and really live the way of Jesus. To love people and allow them to work out their salvation. To care for others and allow their light to be shown rather than judge and extinguish the light of God within them. Love today in every chance that you have. Treat people with the same understanding that you would want if this was you in thier place. Let God's colors to come out in this world all the places that you go today.

Namaste'

Plain

How hard it is for us to just be plain people. We all work so hard at attempting to feel important and proud of what we do. We demand our rights, assert ourselves, and want people to recognize what we do. How far we are from God when this is what we are striving for. We actually need to be doing just the opposite and be just plain people.

When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he'll see that you've done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for— God has had it with the proud, But takes delight in just plain people.
So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

1 Peter 5:4-9

We just need to be real. Real with our hurts, our passions, our lives, our families and our struggles. We do not need to be proud and attempt to cover up what is real. We need to remember that we need to give up our "rights" at times to show love and kindness. We need to give way sometimes and yield to others rather than assert ourselves. We need to give up the need to be recognized and just be happy that we were able to serve. When we can detach from the need to be right and recognized we are far more useful to our Creator. When we are content with who God has made us and were God has placed us - God can use us. It is in this place that we can live a carefree life because life is no longer about protecting ourselves or making ourselves look good. Life become about others and service. John Templeton said - "Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it."

Scatter your joy today do not try to keep it to yourself and get it from others. Bring happiness to someone today and see what you get in return. Do it with no concern about if someone notices. Be plain today, so plain that you are not even noticed.

Namaste'

Solution

We have a final solution to our perception of problems. This final solution is living in connection to God. The reality is all around us. We still continue to try to satisfied ourselves with our ego. We somehow forget that Christ came to show us how to live and open up the connection between ourselves and God. We no longer have to live in wonder about God's love for us or lack the confidence that God is caring for us. When we forget who we are and whose we are we begin to have the feelings of sadness, anger, and depression. We begin to attempt to solve these feelings through our ego by accumilating things, attempting to gain good opinions from others, and defining ourselves by our job. This leads to us over extending ourselves emotionally, financially, and physically. On and on the cycle goes until we can find a solution.

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2

What a life we lead sometimes at the brutal tyranny of sin. Over and over we live a cycle that leads to the death of our spirits. We forget we are totally loved by the all powerful loving source of creation. When we enter into the reality, that is there all the time, we no longer live in this "sin cycle," believing that we are seperated from God. We no longer sense the presence of God, the spirit of God, not because God went anywhere - we just began to believe something different and no longer could see God here. There is a solution to every problem that you have. Begin to see everything and anything through the lense of your spirituality and the hope of Christ. Will this take away all your frustration, pain, sadness and make you happy every moment of the day. NO. It will give you a sense of deep peace and joy that is beyond understanding.

Live in connection to God today by thinking about the solution. Tell yourself you are loved and that the things going on around you have nothing to do with your worth - that question is solved. God is here. Think it until you believe it and believe it until you know it. Meditate on it, memorize the scripture above, place it where you see it everyday. Take steps everyday to move your life forward. Little steps everyday will lead to a realizing that you have arrived later.

Namaste'

Planned

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:24-28

Do you realize that your life was planned to be exactly where it is? God determined the times and place where you should live. This point in history is where you should be. It is not like God got it wrong and you should have been born in 1692, not 1962. It is not as though God did not know the family that you where born into and the problems that you would face. We all have the tendency to blame our family and our growing up on why we have not achieved what we think we should have, or are less than we think we should be. God already knew it and hoped that "we would seek him out and reach out for him and find him." The most amazing thing is that God is not far at all. In the Message version of these same verses it says:

"He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?"

We are created in God's image, we have God's DNA. God is with us, in us and we live and move in God. We cannot get away from God! We just do not notice that God is here. Epictetus, a Greek philosopher and poet wrote:

"You are a distinct portion of the essence of God in yourself. Why, then are you ignorant of your noble birth? Why do you not consider whence you came? You carry God about with you."

Trust God. Trust that even though things are not like you want them, the Creator is only concerned about us seeing him. Trust that God, the one you are birthed out of, is not about the business of hurting his children. Know that your life was planned to be right here, right now and stop telling yourself that God is so far away and things will not work out because of the family your grew up in or the choices you have made. See God. Everything we do is in God. That is why I always say -

Namaste'

Worthy

We all have a hard time believing that we are worthy. We have thoughts that tell us that we will "never" be good enough. We listen to others opinions that say that we will "never" do "anything" right. We work and strive so hard to be worthy of love and forgiveness. We even think that God is waiting of us to get it right before we can be worthy of love. We grow up and get told that we are not good enough unless we color within the lines, play the right notes, go to college, have the right career, and always have enough. We forget the concept of grace - there is nothing we can do to make God loves us more - and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. We forget where we came from and that we are children of God.
I love a story that I heard recently. A mother and a father just had a newborn son. They already had a three year old daughter that was just about to turn four. She desperately wanted to go see her little brother alone in his room while he was in the crib. The parents were very reluctant to leave her alone with the baby and at first told her that she would not be able to do that alone. She was very upset, but the parents then remembered that they had baby monitors. So they relented and allow her to go in while they listened on the monitor. They could hear the sound of feet walking across the room toward the crib and then onto the stool so she could peer over the crib to see the baby. Then they heard the most amazing thing! The little girl asked her baby brother "Tell me what God is like, I have almost forgot."
I get chills when I hear this story and tell it again. It makes me think about a passage of scripture:

"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?" Matthew 7:7-11

It is almost as if Jesus is saying to us, "Who told you that God was hiding from you and that you have to bargain with him to get what you need? Who told you that lie? Who told you that you were not worthy of God's love?" We know how to be good to those around us, and especially our children. Our children do not have to bargain with us to get their needs met. They are worthy of our love just because. We are God's children and we are worthy because he created us. God does not hide from us, but actively pursues us. So today stop running and looking for God because you may actually be running away from God. Stop and let God's love run over you. God is not hiding from us because we are unworthy. We are running from God because we think we are unworthy. Know today that you are God's child. Remember that you came from God and are worthy of the Creator's love. Stop running and looking for God thinking he is hiding. God is right here right now and you are worthy of God!

Namaste'

Live God

Live God each and everyday. Not only do we need to worship the Creator, pray to our Creator, ask for our Creator for what we need, intercede for others to our Creator - but we also need to live our Creator. When we live in connection to our God and change our heart, what comes out of us should be more and more like Christ. More love, kindness, humility, and more patience will be able to flow out of us.

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7

We are encouarged that once we know our way around our faith and are deeply rooted in God we need to begin living God. I love the phrase living God. That is what we are actually doing - living God. We are not waiting for God to come down and change everyone, God is wanted to use us to bring light to the darkness. We are light, not in the way of making sure everyone is morally right and demanding it from people, but in the way of loving people. When people feel this love they cannot deny God. They cannot deny God if we love like Christ without every mentioning his name. Living God is just that, living each moment in love, kindness, and humility with others. Live God today. Catch yourself when anger begins to rise, let go of your ego that wants to assert itself. Remember that you have just been given an opportunity to live God. Recognize it and live it.

Namaste'