Energy

I must write this and confess that I have not been placing my energy where it should go for the last several weeks and months. It has worn me out. It has made me short tempered. It has made me lose focus on what is most important. It has left me emotionally unavailable to myself, to my wife, my child, and my God. I have been obessed with things I cannot control, cannot change, and would never do anything to better myself. I have stopped taking care of myself through the most important things and this means that I have stopped taking care of those most important to me. It will stop and and need to take my energy and use it for something that is much more useful and productive. I will return to my first love. I will return to my mindfulness, prayer and meditation. I will return to thinking about only the good and lovely things. I will returned to allowing myself to be worked into God's most excellent harmonies. I need to get back to my practice of the greatest commandments.

Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these."
The religion scholar said, "A wonderful answer, Teacher! So lucid and accurate—that God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!"

Mark 12:29-33

My passion, my prayer, my intelligence and my energy has not been with God. I must apoligize to all who read this, but first to those most important to me. I am disappointed, but I will awake with new resolve each day to remember that I have a choice to place my energy somewhere. I will choose to place it with God daily. I will do this by daily prayer and meditation, returning to my times of writing, exercise, and challenging myself on my thoughts and actions being applications of the truth of my Creator. Looking for the good and beauty in everything and everyone, and to stop finding places that make it easy to be angry, negative, and lose my energy. To be kind to all I encounter and to allow God to take me to the places and bring the things to me that God has planned already. I will trust my Creator and enjoy my life rather then be frustrated by the things that should not have part of my energy. I will use what I have been given and stop giving it away to what does not matter.

Namaste'

Now

Now - it is all we have. We do not have yesterday. We do not have tomorrow. We do not have the next minute or second. We do not have the last minute or second. We have now. We have the present time, this point in the series of events, and as things are. There is not more that we can have. We spend so much time in the past and the future worrying about what has or what will happen. Those things have either happened and nothing can change them or they have not happened and nothing can change them. We get so out of whack worrying about tons of things we cannot control! What should we do?!

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

Matthew 6:34

So what is God doing right now in your life? I know what you want God to do. I know what you wished God would have done. However, what is God doing right now? God is always working right now. God is never not in the now. We actually get out in front of God, or we are left behind God. We miss God right now because we are thinking about anything but right now. Try it for a while. Try it for an hour or two, a day, a week. First notice how easy it is to be thinking about and focused on right now. Notice how all the worries that you have go away. People tell me all the time that it is so hard to live in the now, but really it is a hard life to live in your worries and fears. It is really simple and easy to live with only your attention on now. Trust in the now of God and allow to "help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." God is already there, already worked out a plan, there is no need for you to. Try it, what is the worst that can happen? You do not have to worry for a while?

Namaste'

Future Pull

Do you realize the power that you have within you as a follower of Christ, walking in the way of Jesus, living a lifestyle in the way of Jesus? The power of the Creator is everywhere. Think about the power of a seed that you place into the ground and then a plant sprouts from that. Think about this:

I have observed the power of the watermelon seed. It has the power of drawing from the ground and through itself 200,000 times its weight. When you can tell me how it takes this material and out of it colors an outside surface beyond the limitations of art, and then forms inside of it a white rind and within that again a red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one of which in turn is capable of drawing through itself 200,000 times its weight –when you can explain to me the mystery of a watermelon, you can ask me to explain the mystery of God.~~~~~~~~~~~ William Jennings Bryan

That same power that make a watermelon is the power of God within you. The seed of a watermelon has a "future pull" in it. It was made to do something great - produce a fruit and plant that is 200,000 times it size! You were created to do something great withi God living in you! You are created with a future pull to do something, to impact somebody, in ways that no one else can!

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."

I Peter 1:13-16

So let yourself be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life that is within you! God is there with you right now! If you are a follower of Jesus, the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is there to pull you towards your future to create something wonderful that will be used for God's glory. You know better now! Today roll up your sleeves, get to work doing what God has placed in front of you to do! Allow God to work in your life. See God everywhere you go and in everything you do! Allow your life to follow its "future pull" and have an impact 200,000 times greater because of the power of the Creator!

Namaste'

Mundane

Is life mundane? Are all you are concerned about are the commonplaces and ordinary experiences of everyday life? We all get so worried about what is typical, what we think should happen, and we try to make sure that everything, everyday, runs exactly the same. I wonder what we are missing when this is the case in our lives? I wonder how much we miss God who is showing up in every situation and every circumstance in our lives.

Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end. If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives."

John 8:23-24

Are we actually in touch with something beyond ourselves, our physical world, and what we can see? We so much live life on the terms of only what we can see, we can prove, and we can touch. There is a whole other dimension of life, a whole other set of terms to live by. If we can live more in the spiritual we see God more and more. If we live on in the physical we miss God more and more. It is all a matter of attention. What will you place your attemtion on today? Will it be on your physical body and what you can see and touch? Will it be on the spiritual terms of life and what is possible and hopeful and inspirational? I want so much for Christians to not miss out on God who is around all the time but we miss God because our focus is on the mundane what will happen to me in the next moment rather than on the eternal what is happening with God at this moment. Do not focus on the mundane today. Do not miss God today because you are at a dead end in the physical world. Look for God to show up. Place your attention on looking for God to make things happen, to put people and circumstances together for your good. Live life on those terms and life will never be mundane. Life will be an exciting gift that is new each and everyday, full of excitement about watching how God will show up!

Namaste'

Luminous

Are you luminous? I know you are saying what the heck is that? Luminous means emitting light, especially emitting self-generated light. So are you luminous? Are you giving off light and is that light "self generated." There are two verse of scripture that come to my mind with this definition to help you see if you are truly luminous.

"Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!"

Matthew 6:22-23

You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16

So first are you living with a greed and distrust of life itself? Or are your eyes wide open to all the wonder and belief that God is everywhere and everything is beautiful? Live this way and your body, your thoughts, your life will be full of light and hope and love and compassion. If you are filled with light you cannot help but give this light off to others. You know this to be true. You have been in a room when someone walks in living a life that is full of greed and mistrust. You do not want to be around them. They drain your energy. They just feel dark and angry. You can also think of those people who enter a room and you just cannot wait to be around them. They give off this energy, this presence, that everyone sees and is attracted too. They are full of hope and love and you just want to get a small piece of this feeling. This is the second verse. We are here to be light to the world. We are here to be luminous. We are here to attract others to God with an energy that is irresistable. I read a something about this and it said, "Illumination is not of this world. It lifts us above the lies of the world by helping us to detach form them. Illumination is both our source and our destiny, the reason wew came here and the reason we stay." We are to acheive an "uplifted" mode of being. To be light. To be luminous and give off this light that is generated from our connection to God.

Namaste'

Sad

I am sad today. I actually I began it pretty mad and angry. Something was taken that I hoped would not be taken, but I thought probably would be. I was still shocked to wake up this morning and find it gone. I am willing to bet that whomever took it would call themselves a Christian and felt like they were doing the right thing. I am sure that they thought taking what they did would keep others from seeing it and teach me a lesson about what I should be doing. I was frustrated with the many Christian I have talked with recently that hear what they want, dismiss you because you think differently, and even stop talking to you because of it. I was angry and thought to myself, "how dare someone take something because of their own fear." "I am so tired of losing friends and people just because I think differently." "Do I really want to be a Christian if this is Christianity?" Then I went for a run and thought long and hard about how I should respond. Should I replace what was taken? Should I leave a note for the person who took it expressing my anger? Should I replace it with something even bigger? Should I quit going to church? The more I thought about it, the more angry I became. Then it hit me. Replacing it or doing anything else would be me acting just like the person who thought they were doing something to further the cause of Christ with their act of "evil."
It was then that I became really sad. I began thinking about how people claim to follow Christ, yet the ideas that Christ taught and lived they never really grasp or live out. Then I thought about how I have not been doing this lately either. Then I found this verse:

"Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's right, sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on."

Luke 6:46-47

I need to get back to just living the way of Jesus. It is a lifestyle that too many of us neglect to live. It is not a set of principles that I get to apply only when it seems right for me to do so, but it is a way of living, a lifestyle that takes great patience, learning and transformation through percieved suffering, and a lifestyle that brings long and lasting changes only as the way is lived. We too often believe that their is some kind of "quick fix." Somehow if we can just have people understand, follow the law, create a law for them to follow, preach and convince, then somehow God will be honored. If God would just answer this prayer in this way all my problems would go away. We really do not want to make a lifestyle out of living the way of Jesus. While trying to do this we actually force God out of the process, fill ourselves with anger, hate, evil, frustration, and hopelessness. We think that somehow we have to control all the outcomes and do things like steal from others to control the outcomes.

I could shoot back with some kind of anger. I could replace it with something bigger and better. I could find the person and let them know how I feel. All this would be an attempt to repay evil with evil. I am choosing to do good. I am choosing this day to get back to just allowing. To get back to the basics of loving people, accepting people, finding the beauty every and in everyone. I can only say that I follow the way of Jesus and then really follow the way of Jesus. Today I will get back to following Jesus' way and live a lifestyle that changes me and others by doing my best to build my life on these words:

"Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.
"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that."

Matthew 5:38-47

Namaste'

Care

What are your cares today? What things are making you worry, get frustrated, or scared? What are you going to do about them? Is there anything to do about them? Should you be caring about them at all?

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.

I Peter 5:6-7

Do what is placed in front of you to do each day and be content with who you are and what is happening in your life. Do not act like you need to be something you are not. Do not act like there is something for you do when there is not. Do not tell yourself that there must be a way it has to be. Do not be so worried about making things turn out the way yo think they should. Be content with who you are and what is happening. Allow God to make things happen at the right time, the time that God has set for it to happen. To worry about it, care about it, and attempt to make it happen sooner is a waste of time and energy. God's hand is strong and there is not point in trying so hard to make things happen. This offers all of us the chance to live carefree. We can trust that God is the most careful with us. What seems to be difficult may really be the care of God. So care today, but make your attention and focus on the best things to care about. Begin to focus on what you do have, what is going right, and how you are cared for. Stop looking at and for what you think is wrong today, what you wish would be different, and then fall into anger, depression, and fear. Care by living carefree.

Namaste'

Overcome Evil

I was thinking about the "Civil Forum" from the past weekend. I was thinking about the question "What do we do with evil?" My first immediate response to that question when I was sitting in my living room was I would defeat it and I thought of this:

Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."
Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Romans 12: 17-21 (The Message)

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:18-21 (NIV)

"As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." "Discover beauty in everyone." I passionately believe that it does depend on me, us. What would happen if person by person we "took care" of people that we considered our enemies. Would we really overcome evil by doing good to them. I have heard of a lady that acted this out is a real way. Instead of standing outside of an abortion clinic with a sign and preaching, she would go in the waiting room and sit down and wait for somone to sit by her. She would engage them in conversation and ask them would they abort their child if they knew someone would take care of both of them for the next two years? She would offer to care for the person and their child for this long. I wonder how many evil acts she overcame with that one act? How many evil acts did the woman who was going to have the abortion avoid because she did not have to deal with the grief and loss and the anger? I wonder how many good acts came from the child that was born?

I wonder if she would have tried to overcome evil with her own anger with a sign out front of the clinic protesting, would this person she cared for even listened? The act of evil would have been done and all the acts after.

I wonder what happens when we all effect our own individual worlds just like this in everyway that we can possibly imagine? At some time I think we would defeat a majority of evil, maybe all the evil. Evil could be defeated, it is what Jesus came to do! Jesus said:

"A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of."

John 10:10

What would happen if we were really the body of Christ in every situation every day in our everyday life? This is the power of God. This is the kingdom of God. It is right here and right now and we have been enpowered by God through Jesus to overcome and defeat evil. It just may not be in the way that we think.

Namaste'

Soul

I read an interesting definition of "soul" today. It said that "the soul's primary function is relationship." The relationship between the ego (our physical self) and the inner world (our spirit) is the most important relationship of all. If the relationship between our physical self and our spiritual self is broken then the relationship with other people and God are impossible. The soul is the living connection of us that puts together our spiritual and physical self. Without care for the soul we are lost, with no direction and we become depressed, angry, bitter, and helpless. We begin to seek the connection of relationship through something else, some addiction, through the pathological love and trust relationshp with an object or fantasy.

"Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

Matthew 10:28

Let go of your ego, your physical self, that would like to tell you are your possessions, other people's opinions, or your title. This can do nothing to, or for your soul. Allow your soul to make the relationship with your spirit possible and more important. Let soul make the relationship with your ego a servant to your spirit. Your soul is the core of your being that God holds. It is the part of you that cries out each day "connect to spirit," "God is right here with you!" When we do not attend to our soul, we attempt to fill our lives with something that will imitate and feel like love and trust. We want so desperately want to count on something to make us feel good and make relationships feel right. We need to take time to nurture our souls. Time for silence. Time for reflection. Time for connection with what is real. Time alone with God. Care for you soul today. Make your relationship with yourself and God "right." Then you can place all of your other relationships in the right perspective.

Namaste'

The Art of Living

Living is an art. Life needs to be conducted with a high quality of conception or execution, with works of beauty. This is art. The ability to think about and execute with beauty your life and your connection with others. It is the ability to not waste time. It is the ability to live in each moment without feeling like time is being wasted. It is the ability to be active in life for God. It is the ability to love unconditionally. It is the ability to set ourselves and our egos aside for something that is far greater than ourselves. It is the ability to follow the dreams that God placed inside us before we were born.

But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Romans 13:11-14

What a difficult art! To be awake to what God is doing, rather than what we would like to see happen. To be up, dressed, and ready to respond in each moment with the mind of Christ. It is so easy to be oblivious to God when we get absorbed in our ego and the things that we tell ourselves that we need. We begin to worry, fret, become frustrated, and depressed. We lose track of time and we begin to want to sleep, doze off and just forget what is happening around us. Stop loitering. Stop lingering. Get up and begin the art of living! Connect to God, dress up with Christ and his attitude and mind. Get passionate. Get quiet in your mind. Get busy doing the work of God in each and every moment. There is nothing missing. Be intimate with God and then with others. Make your life beautiful.

Namaste'

Everything

I wonder if we realize that we have access to everything, right here right now? That is exciting! Most of us read this and think that there is no way that I have access to everything, but I wish I did. I would ask you if you realize who Jesus is? I would ask you if you think you have access to God? I would ask you if you truly believe that you can be connected to God and "have the mind of Christ?"

Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
"And that's not all. You will have complete and free access to God's kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven."

Matthew 16:16-20

Do we really understand that once we know who Christ is, all the barriers that we create in our mind about what is possible for us come down?! There is no seperation of us and God when we realize who Christ is. There is no seperation of spirit, thought, and feeling anymore. Yet we continue to build more boundaries. We have more rules. We have more things to do. We have more of something for us to really be connected to God. We become just like pharisees in our minds and believe that "there is something more I must do in order for God to love me and for me to be happy." There is not. It is the simplicity of knowing that Christ is God and all the boundaries that once kept us from connection are gone! There is only the need to accept this as truth and allow God to do with us as God will. Stop fighting so hard to make God hear you - God does. Stop fighting so hard to make God love you - God does. Stop fighting so hard to make God care for you - God does. Know who Jesus is and allow God to take your life in the direction God will. There you will find that everything is available to you! Change the way you think so things can change.

Namaste'

Imitators

What are you imitating? Imitation is something that is derived or copied from an original. So what are you copying? Are you imitating your parent's behavior? Are you imitating your friend's behavior? Are you imitating the culture's behavior? What are you imitating?

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Ephesians 5: 1-2

Most of us imitate things and behavior without even knowing that we are doing it. I sit with so many people who are copying their parent's or friend's behavior, yet if you point this out to them they will say something like, "I told myself I would never be like ..........." It is the very resistance to the idea that you are like someone and copying their behavior that does not allow you to change it. In therapy we say "what we resist persist." So we have to acknowledge that we are copying, imitating something. So what is it? Are you willing to be aware of it? Once you are you can change it and start looking at what God does, how God loves, and learn proper behavior. You must "keep company" with God to learn this. This is a process that happens with much patience and awareness. Once you do this you will start imitating what you are keeping company. Most of us spent at least 18 years with our parents and somehow we resist the idea that we copy their behavior at times!

Spend time in the company of God through prayer, meditation, silence, solitude, and reading. Then practice imitating what you have learned in the company of God. Be aware that you are copying something and be will to keep company with something different. Imitate the love of God and be extravagant with others. Love like that.

Namaste'

Affect/Effect

Affect means to have an influence on or effect a change in. Effect means something brought about by a cause or agent; a result, and the power to produce an outcome or achieve a result; to influence. I have really started to wonder how should our spirituality affect and effect the world around us? I mean were we all sent here to just get "saved" and sent back to were we came from to begin with? What kind of project would that be? What would be the point of that? Our relationship with God should have some kind of impact, not only on our self, but on everything and everyone around us. What would happen to the world if people who claim to be Christ followers actually practiced and made application of Jesus' words on a moment by moment basis? You think there would be a large affect and effect. Jesus gave us everything there was to do in two sentences. There really is not any need to know anymore of scripture other than this:

When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?"
Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Matthew 22:34-40

Really what would happen if we truly loved ourselves and then truly loved others? I guess this really depends on what your definition of love is. I know that most people who say they are a Christ follower would say that love is unconditional. I know that that is something we like to tell ourselves, but really have a hard time following. We react to things that people do. We have a hard time accepting one another unless they are just like us. We place conditions, aware of them or not, on what will gain our love. Some people actually have a list of requirements to be a Christian that includes more than a belief in Christ and the commandments above. Sounds like what the pharisees did - added to commandments, just to make sure.

What would happen if we just truly loved? I mean really just loved, all people all the time? Would there be an affect? Would there be an effect? Would change really take place in this world? I believe with all that I am - yes! I know that this is a risky action to take. I mean to really love everybody - really? To stop making judgements about other's motives and behaviors. To really sit down and listen to them like you would like to be listened to. To really begin to have compassion with all people of all races and all religions. I know I am an idealist (but I believe Jesus was too) and that some people will never do the same with us. Does that mean I join them in their hatred or anger thereby having no affect/effect and letting them have all the affect/effect? Or do I hold to what I believe about love and just do that, trusting that Jesus was telling the truth and this is the way we have affect/effect? I choose to believe and hold to the ideal of love.

Namaste'

Squeeze

There is only so much room inside yourself for things to fit. Think about this for a moment - you cannot put some other kind of juice inside of an orange. It is already full of juice and we cannot go fill it up with some other kind of juice and hope that will come out of it. Only orange juice will come out of the orange. The same is true of us. We would all like to say and think that what comes out of us was placed there by someone or something outside of ourselves. However, what comes out of us and what we focus on is what was there already. So I like to ask a question - "When things, the stresses of life, squeeze you what comes out? When your spouse does something you may not like, how do you react? When your boss or coworker do something that would normally cause you stress, how do you react? When something happens you were not plannig on happens, what do you do? Whatever your reaction, it came from within.

Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

1 John 2:15

Interesting that if we are full of love of the world, if we are full of wanting - any kind of wanting - we squeeze out the love of God. At times we need to change from the inside out. We all need to look at ourselves at times and understand what we want, why we want it, and see if it is really necessary. This wanting is not just about things, really it is more about ego - the want to look important, to have things for self, and to make sure others like us. It just isolates us from God because we are full of self and so self is the things that has to come out. God does not come out, but self does. If self comes out first, it is very difficult to be a servant and to give our lives away. This is why God gives the assurance that if we seek God first all the "things" will be given to us. Change what is inside so that when life squeezes you God come out in the form of love, kindness, creativity, abundance, acceptance, and compassion.

Namaste'

Abundance

Abundance is a mind set. Abundance is not the accumulation of things. Abundance is not a matter of having a whole bunch of stuff or money, is the mind set that you are already rich and have everything you need and available to you. It is your thoughts that make you abundant and give you abundance. When we realize that we do not have to strive for things, but can allow it to flow into our life - that everything is available to us as children of God - we are living in abundance. We are enlighted at this point in our lives and life looks so much different! There is a Zen proverb that says:

Before enlightenment

Chopping wood

Carrying water

After enlightenment

Chopping wood

Carrying water

This demonstrates that the "things" and work of life does not change once we realize that abundance is what we think and do. The work of our life looks much different and feels much different to us after we realize that abundance is a mindset.

People who realize this and live with this mindset focus on the fact that things are available and more comes into their lives. People who focus on scarity and the things they lack, that is what continues to come into their lives. We get what we think about whether we want it or not. So if we spend our day thinking about all the things we do not have and how they will never come to us, this is what will show up in our lives - nothing. If we spend our days knowing that we have whatever we will need for today and everyday, having faith that God will, this is what will show up - what we need. This is abundance. Jesus put it like this:

He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Matthew 13:11-12

Abundance is faith. Abundance is the knowing that you are a child of God and all things are available to you. There is no need to strive, to make a million dollars, to have a bunch of stuff. You can have a billion dollars in the bank, but if all you do is think about how all the ways that you could lose it you are really poor. There is no abundance in this kind of thinking even though you have it all. Abundance is not hoping that I will get what I need, striving for it and then begging for it - it is knowing that whatever it is will come when needed and is available. Remember this today. You are abundance. You are a child of God and after this enlightenment your work and life may be the same in behavior, but it will look completely different to you. When you look and think about it differently you act differently. Change the way you think and things change.

Namaste'

Convert

What does light do? When you turn on the light in a room what happens? The darkness gets converted to light. To convert something is to change something into another form, substance, state, or product, to transform. This is the power of love. Love converts the darkness of anger and hate into the light of love and compassion. This is how Jesus changed the world.

Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in."

John 8:12

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house."

Matthew 5:14-15

We are to be light. We are to convert the darkness of this world into light. I wonder how we do this with the statements that I put in my blog yesterday? Can I really convert anger and hate of people, of terrorist, by joining them in anger and hate? Don't I really join darkness and any light I have gets converted to darkness. This applys to every aspects of our lives. Are we going to be changing darkness to light or are we going to let our light "be hidden" and converted to the darkness of the world's anger? When I hear people make statements like "I assure you that Christ would not turn the other cheek to terrorist of America's enemies" I just have to wonder how does that change the world? How am I giving the world light by thinking this way? We are to be love, kindness, and compassion. This is light. This light converts darkness. I do not convert anyone by joining them in their anger. I only join in anger and produce more anger. The real challenge is applying the words of Jesus to the time that you live in today. You can actually convert the anger, hate, frustration, and sadness around you by giving off your light. Do not hide your light today. Let it shine. Be kindness. Be love. Be compassion. Be Jesus.

Namaste'

The Power of Love

I heard a Christian make this statement yesterday - "I can assure you that Christ would never advocate turning the other cheek to terrorist and Americas's enemies." "What the...... " was my immediate inner response to this. Then I started thinking of all the scriptures that talk about love.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Matthew 5:38-40

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:43-45

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
To Love, to Be Loved. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

I John 4:7-21

The statement that began this blog today is full of fear and not faith. Love is the greatest power that we still have not understood or fully used. We become so scared that we first move to anger and hate, rather than love. We miss out on the power of love and what it can offer. When we think and act with anger we are not being ruled by God, because God is love. Actually we are becoming just like the ones we say are our enemies. They hate us, they want to kill us, they are not of God even though they say and think they are. "You cannot know God if you do not love." Love is a power that is not used, even by Christians. People seem to be attracted to fear, anger and angst. The news feeds on it, we eat it up, we ask for it, and spend our days waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

Jesus offered us another way. Jesus offered us a way to have peaceful relationships, to show and be God on this earth, and Jesus always encouraged his followers to love. Jesus lived in a world that was occupied by terrorist, but said nothing about them. Rather he encouraged people to love. Jesus said this about the people who killed him:

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Luke 23:33-34

So do we really believe that Christ would not "turn the other cheek?" I can know about scripture and be able to quote it - but does that mean that I really know it? William Penn once wrote that "Those people who are not governed by God will be ruled by tyrants." This could be our lower self at work in the form of hate and anger. It could also be real tyrants that get to rule our life from the outside because we give into the power of hate and anger rather than the power of love. God is love. What will govern your life?

Namaste'

Already

What are you focusing on today? Are you going to focus on what you think you do not have, what you wish you could have, or what you want to happen that would make you happy today? We all have a tendency to think that if something "out there," something or someone outside of ourselves, with make us feel better or happy if it changes or happens. The reality is that there is nothing outside of ourselves that will make us happy. We could change jobs, move to a different city, get the money we think we need, whatever it is and still feel and think the way we do right now. How we feel and how we think our life is, is already a part of us. It is already inside us. Thinking that we need to wait on something to happen to feel good, to feel happy, is a lie. We already have all we need to be happy.

Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, "The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, 'Look here!' or, 'There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you."

Luke 17:20-21

The kingdom of God is already here and among us. It is in us. I tell people that if someone calls me and says they want to move to Atlanta from another city I would ask them, "Well how is it where you live now?" If they answer with something like, "well we can't find friends, no one is freindly here, we cannot find a church, it is hard to connect with the community, etc." I would tell them that "that is pretty much what Atlanta will be like." If they answer, "well it is wonderful, we have found great people, nice people, wonderful friends, a church, we connected with the community, etc." I would answer the same. "That is pretty much what it will be like in Atlanta." Your happiness is already in you and how you think.

You see all the things we need are already with us. There is nothing outside of ourselves that will cause us happiness. It is already within. Do we realize that God is right here with you right now? Do you believe that you have what you need and it will come only when you need it? Give yourself affirmations that you are a child of God, that you are deserving of the love of God, that you have all that you need, that the kingdom of God is already here with you, and that love fills your heart and your life. Get rid of the thoughts that tell you you need something else to be happy. You already have it. Enjoy what you have, be thankful for what is there, and see how the things around change. Expereince how life changes from the inside out.

Namaste'

Complete Abandon

Oh to live this life with a feeling of complete abandon. To live life able to yield oneself completely with unbounded enthusiasm and exuberance. To fully know and trust that there is nothing to worry about and nothing to work for. This would be the feeling of living life in complete abandon. To allow yourself to stop striving and trying so hard and to begin to trust and allow. This is possible if we understand and know who we are and who takes care of us.

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,

giving to the needy in reckless abandon.

His right-living, right-giving ways

never run out, never wear out.

The most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

2 Corinthians 9: 8-11

God give in reckless abandon. Can God be trusted? If so, can I trust God and live my life with abandonment and not worry, or be attached to the outcome of my life. I no longer have to make my life turn out a certian way and be attached, or caught up with, making things happen like I think they should. I can enjoy the journey of life, with no attachement to my ego, allowing for me to enjoy each and every aspect of my life, each and every moment without missing out because my attention is on some future event. God is extravagant and I still doubt it. I miss out on so much in life because of my fear that "it will not come to me," "things will not work out," "that I am not worthy," "things never work out for me," and a thousands of other thoughts that only serve to hold me back from a connection with an extravagant God. Remember today that God is extravagant, reckless, and abandon in giving. Remove the fear that comes from needing to have things work a certain way, being attached to the outcome of things. Live in complete abandon to what will happen in life because there is a God who gives extravagantly with reckless abandon.

Namaste'

Empty

Ever felt empty? Ever felt like the things in life held and contained nothing? This may be good. It may be a recognition that you no longer identify with the concerns of this world, but have yet to fill yourself up with Christ.

And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore.

Ephesians 4:17-19

Maybe it is time to leave the crowd. Maybe it is time to no longer go along with the tribe. This is not something that you need to announce to the world, but a silent knowing that lives deep withing you. A knowing that says that you no longer need to feel empty, that there is a Creator that is ready to fill you with love, hope, creativity, and kindness. When full of these things there is nothing you can do but feel peace and joy. You find your passion in life and see what life is really all about. It is not going along with the mindless crowd and tribe who believe and see life only in one dimension. You become someone full of God, realizing God, and a person who thinks for themselves and finds God living everywhere.

Namaste'