Seeking The Truth in Church (Soul Searching Series)

Photo Credit: Обичам да съм Турист. И зная как. 

Стаята на Пауна (The Peacock Room), Castello di Sammezzano е Реджело, Тоскана, ИталияAdd caption

On Good Friday this year, I coined a new term,"Churching." 

The term came to mind when I noticed a man strolling his iPhone throughout the service and seemingly not  

paying attention to a word the priest was saying.

"Churching" was born: People who show up in church just to be there, out of a sense of obligation, or by believing that just showing up they are making a commitment of some sort.

The way I see it, "Churching"  is done for some specific reasons:

1. To gain respect in a local community.
2. To teach children "church" values.
3. To make social and business connections.(Really!)
4. To create peace in the household.



"Churching" is so different from "Going to Church," as this should involve Soul Searching and going
deeply within ourselves to find answers to life's troubling questions.

Photo Caption: Collection of Dr. D. Ash. http://chantalbethel.com

"Going to church" sometimes can mean going into an empty church, as pictured in the cover photo, simply because we find solace there. My best moments, actually, are spent in empty churches or monasteries. That's where I find so much peace exuding from the energy within the walls and the "spirit" of those who have prayed before and, those who will pray, after me.

Empty churches help me remember that the Spirit within me lives in everyone else, and that we're all just outplaying our individuated Souls' roles on Earth...through the ONE spirit!

 I get connected to my Soul easily in empty churches this way, and  real "soul searching" can begin. (I also can do this during my meditation periods at home. But why not go into a building, too, and feel it?) 

Understand... I don't really knock people for "churching." Everyone is at a different stage of evolution in his/her life's journey.  (Maybe, as this author suggests, the person just may be looking up bible verses. Judging people who use iPhones during church.)

Showing up at  a church at least gives recognition to the fact that there is a higher power at work in our lives. Even this small attempt at recognizing a higher being can bring peace to many people.

I also don't want to dismiss the importance of the iPhone user based on the surface of things, either:
Who knows if this man didn't need a distraction while truly absorbing all details of the priest's message?

The man's presence on Good Friday suggests that even if he's not there, yet, his Soul/Spirit is trying to guide him and is waiting for him to want to know more of the truth.

It simply may be, as noted above, the man went to church to please his wife, who was sitting beside him. If it brings peace in the house, why not?   So... "churching"... can give others hope of things to come.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -Hebrews 11: 1

What is it about "going to church" or churching that brings us hope and promise?

For one thing, we can be sure that both these activities give our lives some guidelines and parameters for living.

This is the blessing of religion.

It sets limits on our potential human excesses. It gives us a sense of decency and a recognition that we have an obligation to live our lives in a pattern that dignifies our humanity.

 It's not the building!Sharing & participating in "community" is another aspect of going to church.

People who don't "Go to church" or go "churching" may be just as spiritual, just as committed to decency and the dignity of our human experience... perhaps even more so. But the very act of going into a church suggests to the world that we recognize the existence of a higher being, and we're ready and able to submit.

The only problem I have with those who are able but don't go "churching," to church, or don't care about the spiritual or anything greater than themselves,  is their seeming belief that the world begins and ends with the way they view it.

"No man is an island." We need human interactions for spiritual growth.

Our egos are the rulers of our personalities. We cannot let them reign.

If we allow our egos to tell us that the world begins and ends with us, i.e. the personalities that we are conscious of being, and that there is no greater power within our lives, operating our lives, then eventually, we're headed for trouble.

The ego camouflages all of God's (Spirit within) work and that of our Souls, which direct our ways and walk in the world. Being the "presenter" of our "beingness" to the world, some egos would have us believe that what we see begins and ends there.

Solitude IS good for spiritual growth.
But be careful in not making it a permanent state!

This is far from the truth.

Our egos...our personalities...are the least powerful parts of ourselves.

Real soul searching begins only when we allow our personalities to crumble, allowing our real selves to begin to shine through our human exteriors.

The truth of our being is hidden from the world, indeed,  even from ourselves.

By taking a step into a church, whether to do soul searching, as those "going to church," or even "churching," we are saying to the world and ourselves that we recognize this truth: "There is a greater power at work in the world and in our lives as our lives."

So let's welcome all "churching" people into our mosques, synagogues, churches, temples and monasteries.

Doing so just may be the start of something BIG for that man or woman!

Namaste',
Che'

Aligning With Truth: Wisdom Cats Long To Share

JUNE 16 EDITOR'S UPDATE: Wishing a Happy Father's Day to all dads, as I remember the legacy left by my father, who loved all animals, birds, reptiles and "creatures" of the wild.

Photo Credit: My Story

An alley cat now sleeps on a mat outside my door every night.

I can guarantee that when I open the door in the morning, if I hadn't already fed him, he'll be waiting.

If I'm leaving out in the afternoon and he's in the yard, he runs to his spot to check to see if food is there...before I leave.

When my car pulls up in the driveway, and if I hadn't left his afternoon food out before I'd taken off, he comes running.

He doesn't make a sound most times, except when he wants to say, "Thank you," or when another alley cat tries to take his food.

He politely waits for me. Even after I place his food outside, he waits for me to move away before he goes to it.

He needs for me to feed him, but he's too polite to beg even when he's hungry...and he also doesn't want me to see him "sweat."

I love it.

I've come to love this alley cat, I now call, "Pi."*

Like these kittens, Pi is a grey tabby cat.

I'd discovered him when I began to hear creaks coming from the swing at night in the middle of winter.

Not daring to go out, I'd discovered Pi asleep in the swing in the early morning.

From that day, I began to leave food for him twice a day: soft food in the morning and hard food in the afternoons.

Since then, Pi has found his home. This makes me feel good.

Pi did not come empty handed though: he's brought with him lots of gifts.

I've learned that by observing him, I also can learn a lot about life.

Cats seem to exude balance and, in many ways, spiritual essence. Their mysterious ways also suggest the hidden wisdom they possess inside. Centuries ago, and perhaps even today, some cultures revered cats.  In ancient Egypt, for example, cats occupied a special place of recognition. (Cats in Ancient Eygpt.) 

Life can be tough for these alley cats (Read this and WEEP!), but somehow they find a way to survive. What impresses me is that even in their being homeless and shelter-less, these cats still maintain their pride, still carry themselves with dignity. They actually don't know any other way to be, so whether cats are housed in a home, or they are alley cats, they exude this dignity.

The alley cats also seem able to sense danger very quickly, and for sure, because of their circumstances, they  take time to trust. This is so unlike cats that are housebound.


When Pi started coming around, he'd cower behind bushes when I came out to feed him.
Now, he stands closer and observes me.

Sometimes, we have a stare-down: he looks silently at me and, in his doing so, I sense his gratitude. Apparently, I'm not the only one who learns something by looking into the eyes of animals. (The Wild Eyes of Galapagos.)

Without being able to tell me what he's feeling, Pi still is communicating.

By getting closer to me, he lets me know he trusts me.

When he meows at me, it's not a sound of distress, as when he's fighting off the other cats for his food. It's a soft sound that communicates gratitude

I can be a cat whisperer, but I'm not there yet. I just observe and enjoy the magic of our communication.

The thing I'm getting a lot lately from Pi and studying pictures of cats is that there are deep spiritual messages these animals wish to share:

Everything we need is within us.

Recognize this, and we can solve many of our life's "riddles."







When we wait patiently and with a positive, faithful attitude, everything we desire will come to us.
Pi demonstrates this precept, each time he waits at the door. He knows every day his food will come. No meowing for it.

He has the quiet assurance that it is coming.



"Be Still and Know"- Psalm 46:10

He has the faith: it is coming.
He has the wisdom to know: it is coming.

He sits and waits: it is coming. 

He knows the truth: It is within him.

I suspect the other alley cats began to observe his contentment during the time he spends with them, so they began to follow him.

But you know what? They, too, learned to leave well enough alone. They've stopped coming by to try to take Pi's food.

I never did anything to them. After all, if I can feed one cat, I'd love to feed as many as are hungry. But what happened is that when  Pi cried, and I went out, they ran away. After about four times of this happening, they stopped coming around.

Now, it's just Pi.** ( Be sure to read update below.)

The others aren't waiting around. They've moved on to other places to find  food.

This is wisdom! 

If you've read the book, "Who Moved My Cheese," by Spencer Johnson, MD, you would get the message that we should not get stuck going back to the same places to find our good. Some of us, humans, do exactly this, even when the source is all dried up.

Photo Credit: My Story

By observing cats and their ways, we can extrapolate the following:

1. Be Still and Know:  Everything we need is within us.
2. Good is there: Just keep trusting.
3. Focus on what we need: Patience and Faith will win.
4. Have confidence in self (your Soul): If you lose confidence in self, you lose everything because you lose connection to the within!
5. When your life is in transition: Do everything to maintain your dignity and embrace yourself fully in love. "This, too, shall pass." 
6. When one source dries up, move on: Don't keep beating a dead horse.
7. Start giving to life from where you are: the smallest will be appreciated by those who need help.
8. Be grateful for what you have: Doing so, you open up the door to all other possibilities 

We see clearly the demonstration of gratitude for what we already have with the bible story of Elijah and the poor widow with two sons to feed. (2 King 4). The widow only had a small jar of olive oil, and Elijah told her to gather as many containers as she could and pour the oil into them. The widow shut the door, and she and her sons kept pouring the oil into them. Once every jar was filled, the oil stopped flowing.  The widow then took the bottles of oil, selling them and getting the money she needed to feed herself and sons.

Gratitude allows us to be creative with what we have and allows us to multiply our resources, by allowing us to see new and different possibilities. 

Photo Credit:  Loba branca

But do we do this? No. We often are busy looking at our neighbors, seeing what they have and wanting those, too.  Placing an emphasis on what we lack leaves little room for gratitude.

Many believe black cats bring bad luck. It's about consciousness.

Let's change this focus.

Bless what you already have, first, then go deeper within for guidance as to how to dig for new "wealth." Don't look outside yourself.

Using this consciousness, Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and turned water into wine.

Black cats get a bad rap! 

It's all about consciousness. It's all about knowing that you are enough for this journey of life and you have enough...and to spare.

That's the way of the cats.

Within them, unbeknownst to them, they have
a consciousness that moves mountains.

(Don't let anyone...no matter how close you think you are to them...interrupt your move to this new level of consciousness. You will
find distractors coming at you from many angles. Many of these people are unaware they are getting in the way of your good, as they are simply living their own lives with their own goals, values and agendas. So, it's  up to you to stay centered and focused about where you want to go.) 


Stand still. Go within and find the truth about you!

Namaste',
Che'

****************************************************************************************************

TODAY...

I celebrate the spirit of my mother, Valda, who would have been celebrating a birthday today. As I wrote this blog post, I couldn't help remembering her because of her birthday, yet, I wondered if it were not the spirit of my father, Ivan, which had inspired and guided me to write it.

My father loved animals, reptiles, birds and all creatures of the wild; he spent his life around them near the Amazon Basin rain forest area of South America, where I was born and spent my early childhood. Ivan nurtured all creatures when they were ill, and to make a life for us, he exported them to zoos around the world.

 These beautiful birds are for you, Ivan and Valda: The cats can't touch them! 

*********************************************************************************************************
*NOTES:  
1. The name was adopted from the movie, "Life of Pi." I found the name, "Mr. Charles Barker," too much of a mouthful so settled for "Pi."
2. When I wrote the initial draft of this post, the other cats had stopped coming. Gradually, they began coming around again, and now they each come at different times of the day: in the early morning, then late in the afternoon. I've since learned to leave out different bowls of food for each of them.

Aligning With Truth: Faith, Confidence, Compassion

Aligning With Truth Requires A Commitment to Follow "The FCC Rule" Photo Credit: Gorgeous Picture. Follow on Facebook.

Aligning with the truth of our being requires us to strip ourselves of masks and playing roles that don't honor our Souls. (April 7, 2013 post). With so much pressure, though, to confirm to society's overall expectations of us as we go about our daily lives, the easier way is to disrespect our own Souls and give in to the ways of the world.

Forget what's going on inside. 

Like anything that continuously receives toxic substances, we eventually begin to erode and/or implode. It's often from the inside out. We see this manifested in such self-healing practices, as drinking too much alcohol or taking drugs, to get through the days and nights.

Not honoring ourselves and our truth and moving further and further away from wholeness as we continue our role playing can have devastating effects.

Go outside in any major downtown area today,  and you'll see them: the wanderers.

Pity them, don't we?
Thing is, many of us are just like those homeless and wandering people in the streets; they simply have stopped pretending and taken it to another level. They are lost, and they're saying it out loud.






Whether their being lost resulted from mental illness, alcohol and/or drug  addiction, poverty or something else, these folks simply are outplaying a part of the game of life, we don't dare do.

But if many of us stop trying to hold our lives together with bandaids (aka masks of wholeness), we, too, would be recognized as being just lost as our brothers and sisters out on the street, roaming each day and night.






Much of our roaming happens quietly in our restless personalities.  

Life is a tough, tough game. Don't let anyone fool you. Having money alleviates some of the challenges, but money also often breeds other challenges and issues as well. Drugs aren't the answer, because we know where those lead. Every solution that seems to address difficulties does not lead to a sense of wholeness and the ability to live above the day-to-day stresses.

The solution, though, obviously does not lie in giving up either. Just stopping what we're doing and not budging a step more is a form of madness, too.

Then, how, where, do we look? What do we do to achieve this sense of wholeness that money can't buy and drugs can't fix? 

 Ask for help.

Yes. It's that simple:
"It is surprising that I could not see a very simple truth: behind and above this world and our lives, there is someone who knows why this world exists and why we exist in this world. And our lives are as bubbles in boiling water, which appear, rise to the surface, pop, and disappear."- Leo Tolstoy

Recognize that there is a Presence behind the mask that you wear for the world. Recognize the "Self" that is within you.

Your Soul is  interconnected to this PRESENCE... The Awareness...behind your thoughts and actions. This plugged-in Soul is the power behind all you do.  It is the power that connects you  to all there in the Universe.  Don't become so intertwined in "the personality" of who you are that you lose touch with your true essence. Similarly when you make a mistake, you should realize that you are not the mistake. Learn to forgive "the personality" for its forgetfulness of Self!

Ask for help from within.

"When you suffer, look for consolation within. Don't seek it in books or temples. Only God, who lives in you, will help you." - Leo Tolstoy

I get a real charge out of the folks who say that they don't believe in God. I mean really...
Regardless of whether they want to call him God or not, there is a power greater than these individuals working in and through their lives.

Whether it's "God" as man, which Stephen Hawkings seems to suggest, ("Big Bang Didn't Need God") or "God" as a universal presence, something greater than us exists within us and in the world.

This + the two photos immediately above: Gorgeous Picture 

God is the energy working in and through our lives and through the Universe. Via our Soul, the God presence connects with us. But for some their humanity... personality...defies acknowledging that presence within. They want to believe that the "personality" they know is their true essence. They also want to believe that Earth is the entire Universe.

They are wrong.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Dr. T.H. Jarrett/IPAC/Caltechhttp://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-023.html

The image pictured may look like a Fabrege' egg,  but it's actually a view of galaxies beyond Milky Way.

"Our Earth feels like all there is, but we know that it's just a tiny planet in a vast Solar System. And our Solar System is just one member of a vast Milky Way galaxy with 200 to 400 billion stars," says Fraser Cain in Universe Today. (Where is Earth in Milky Way Galaxy?)    

Can you find Earth among the millions of other galaxies in the Universe? Of course, from here you can't, yet many want to believe that we, who inhabit this tiny little portion of the Universe, will find the answers to LIFE!

From where do all these formations come? Surely, the Big Bang would have had to be beyond belief for all these galaxies to exist. Physics alone cannot explain the origin of the Earth, much less the Universe!  

Photo: Gorgeous Picture

Those of us who do believe in God also want to believe that we know all that's going on too.

Photo Credit: "Night Walker"

That one day, we'll be able to put it all together. That's not the truth, either.

"The understanding of the existence of God is accessible to
everybody; the complete understanding of the essence of God is not accessible to any person."- Leo Tolstoy

We'll never be able to have the full answer to our beingness and to our planet and others. Sometimes, we may feel we do...that we have it figured out...but the truth is much, much greater than what we can hold in our minds.

Photo credit: Gorgeous Picture. Follow on Facebook.

All religions... Judaism, Christianity, Muslim, Hinduism, Bhuddism, Bahai... in some way try to give an explanation about God and our required behavior towards him to help alleviate our human journey. This may be the best any of us can hope for...                                                     
... alleviate our human journey...play our part as best we can...and align with the spirit within us.

And that's where the FCC Rules come in: 

We must begin to move in the direction of inner guidance. Photo: Gorgeous Picture

 Cracking the Code of life becomes easier when we align with the truth within us.

Rule #1: Have Faith in a "Beingness" Greater than Yourself! 
Rule #2: Have Confidence in Yourself and Where the Spirit Within you is leading you
Rule #3: Have Compassion for Yourself and for Others.

                                                  

                                                               

                                                    FAITH

"In God I trust; I am not afraid."—Psalm 56:11

We can watch television programs on any given Sunday and see those who honor the pastor's call to reform their lives. Some walk up to the altar to "be born again."

Were we to track these folks, we would find that those who were truly sincere when they answered the call do begin to experience more peaceful lives. It's not that they are blessed by becoming "religious." 

Photo credit: Friends of Music and Poetry 

"Only a person who renounces his personality becomes truly powerful. As soon as one denies his personality, it is not he, but God, who acts through him." -Leo Tolstoy

"Most things break instead of transform because they resist."-Mark Nepo, Book of Awakening, April 24

It's simply that they are aligning with the Consciousness of Goodness inherent in all that we aspire to be and do while walking the earth. By aligning their personalities to their Souls within, the struggle between the two stops and "the new person" begins to emerge and experience peace and tranquility.

Credit: "Maidens, Mothers and Crones." Positively Pagan

It doesn't matter if their walk of goodness comes from a religion based on control, intimidation or false beliefs about who they are or what they are here to do. Those become irrelevant, at least in the beginning.

Believing in a power greater than you to lead your life shifts you into a state of receptivity. (And... for God's Sake, this belief is not in the pastor...the teacher...the guru or the cult leader...they too have their own human burdens to carry.)  Turning your life over to the Goodness of God, and wanting to do only good, causes an immediate shift to garner the attention of Cosmic Consciousness. This lends you the support you need to succeed.

Photos Credit: Gorgeous Picture

Once people achieve a certain level of success, many choose to stay at this level of Consciousness... in contentment for the rest of their lives. They enjoy the simplicity of existence, simply resting in the comfort (arms) of knowing there is a God who is overseeing all and is in all.     

Others seek to go deeper, and because they seek the truth to all that they are, they will experience some bewildering experiences. As they move towards giving up negative old patterns and behaviors and try to move into a new and more enlightened way of living, numerous challenges will appear so they can be confronted and healed by the the truth emanating from within.






WARNING: This path is only for the sincerest of truth seekers, who are deeply committed to going all the way, following the flow where ever the path may lead.

Photo Credit: Moonlight

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
"Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:28-31

Photo Credit: Super Beautiful Photos

Deep truth seekers may begin to see voluminous mistakes they may have made in the past by taking self-centered actions vs. seeing the bigger picture of life. Instead of being plagued by demons for making these mistakes, truth seekers should be able to see that the mistakes were made at the level of personality. They are able to recover from these missteps, as huge as they might be, comforted in knowing that the essential person of their being, their Soul, could never be a mistake.

                 CONFIDENCE
Once we're able to get past our egotistic selves, i.e. our personalities, and see that there is a deeper truth to us, we must befriend and trust this part of ourselves to lead us.

Credit: www.livelifehappy.com

What we should realize is that this part of us has been "the one" leading us all of our lives, i.e. our Souls.
Its presence remains dormant within us because of our humanity and dominance of our personalities playing their roles in the world. But the power that fuels us always came from a deeper part within, whether we acknowledged it or not.

Photo credit: Gorgeous Picture

Photo Credit: Daffodilz

The challenge is when we wake up to this Self, we must then continue to have confidence in our human self's ability to perform...to do what we've been doing all of our lives. We must let go of fear and trust the force to continue to guide us, our human persona, unfailingly along our path to good. 



 "Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live."
-Goethe

Without this confidence in ourselves, whether coming from a consciousness of "the personality," or the deeper part of us, we become stagnant. We must trust, and despite the trials we may be led through for "our greater good," we must believe that we are worthy of goodness and keep on keeping on

Never, ever give up on Self, i.e. the Spirit/Soul within, no matter how dismal the path becomes as it heals the personality for a closer and deeper alignment. All that we were, all that we became and still can become stems from this belief in our greater "Self," not ego. That "Self" is made up of Spirit/Soul, the ultimate connection to God. This is the Self that has guided us from birth. Maintaining confidence in its power to lead us fully into the path of wholeness and light is what transforms our lives. 

                                           Compassion

Photo Credit here and below: Gorgeous Picture

There may be moments when as we grow along the path of wholeness and truth, we may find ourselves standing alone and apart from others. Many people in our lives will not be able to accompany us as we go deeper within. This is one journey we must take alone, and it is the time for us to fully hanker down and believe in the person that we know we're coming into being. 

Making "wholeness" your goal,  you eventually will be able to drink Pura Vida!

We cannot expect others to appreciate our journey, if they are not "there yet," in their consciousness.  Those are the times when, despite all who may proclaim to love us, we must know that the heart that will bleed the reddest for us at all times....is our own very heart. 
Stay connected to the core of your being. Maintain your right to move into wholeness, even if your friends, family and/or associates may not understand, as they stay consumed with the world and worldly things. 

When  your expiration date arrives, they will not be the ones to answer to your Soul. 

        "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." - Romans 12: 2

Image/Photo: "SunGazing"

We may forgive others for not appreciating or understanding our journey, yet we can become impatient with ourselves. We must maintain the same level of compassion and kindness to ourselves as we would extend to others.

 Being unkind or impatient with ourselves is bad enough. But when this insensitivity extends to others in a plight, it becomes downright crude. (Rush Limbaugh Jokes About Pressure Cookers After Boston Tradegy)

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."- John 8: 32

Knowing God as the source of your being is the truth that will set  you free. Compassion is caring and sharing deeply enough for self and others.  When you're lost, simply ask of the inner Self, "What is it that you would have me do now?"

Do not become like the lost and troubled personalities, who make bad jokes out of everything, because they are so lost to their own inner selves.

 "There's a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men."- Proverbs 30:14

"Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence."

St. Isaac of Syria

Compassion for others begins when we're able to see ourselves in all other beings, including those less fortunate than ourselves. It means that we can see beyond the outward appearances of each person we encounter and are able to recognize our shared humanity and the spirit of oneness we share with him or her. (See this IONS video on Consciousness, including a piece on the homeless: Consciousness Matters by Institute of Noetic Sciences) Instead of moving away as quickly as we can from a homeless person, let's send a silent blessing:
Shalom! Peace Be With You! God Bless You! Namaste'...all words that bless and bring a consciousness of God into the moment.

Finding our way back to the wholeness and truth of our being is a long journey. We're asked to persevere and commit fully to our Souls at the highest level. Following the "The FCC Rules" certainly will facilitate the process.  

As we travel down the seemingly unending road to reconnecting to our within, we will encounter countless blessings all along the way. When we recognize one of those blessings...we must stop right there... and give thanks! A grateful heart opens up more avenues for gratitude.

Please enjoy this sidebar.

                                        "The Secret" I learned from an  Armenian storekeeper  

A memory from a recent Sunday keeps replaying in my mind/heart.
I'd stopped in at the Armenian (Russian) store to pick up the pastries I like to enjoy with my tea. 
As I parked, I noticed the storekeeper was seated outside. As I walked closer, I saw that he and his friend were having a tete a tete and there was finery on the table. As a matter of fact, there was a LACE tablecloth, placed over the mini-table. Their tea and pastry were in glass mugs and on plates.
I thought the storekeeper's wife was inside and she would be the one helping me. So, I didn't disturb them. I went into the store and quickly got my pastries, waiting for her to show up from back as she sometimes does.  She didn't, so I kept waiting at the counter until the storekeeper came from outside. 
I asked him,"What's the occasion...with the tablecloth and finery?" He smiled and said, "Nothing. Just a Sunday afternoon."
Wow! I smiled back to him, sharing "the secret."
Our secret? JOY...
In that moment as we exchanged smiles, we both knew... the joy of the simplicity of a Sunday afternoon, spent in dignity and respect with a friend. 
The lace tablecloth, the glass mugs, the glass plates said it all. 
Do we...can we always say... we hold each other with such...grace...dignity...respect? 

That Sunday afternoon display of courtesy and affection serves as a great memory for me.  

Namaste',
Che'