Sunday, January 29, 2012

We Touch Others With His Love...

Lost in a daydream, we know what it is to lose all sense of body consciousness, our mind freed of worldly woe.  Our reverie, if only for a moment, takes us to a higher place.

It is just such a state that we long for as we quiet our mind in silent prayer to allow God’s presence to suffuse our very being with His love.  Only by thus losing ourselves in God, our mind one with His, can we touch others with His love: A love that forever purifies and heals the soul.

Garry D. Kilbourn                           
bwfaithministry

“…we touch others with His love…”

Today, God’s tapestry of life unfolded in an amazing way bringing together pieces of lives we didn’t think were connected.
                             
Just to back up a bit… remember Alice, I pick her up from a nursing home twice a month to attend Evening Grace at Grace Presbyterian.  We both look forward to seeing friends.  Alice commented we hadn’t seen Margaret for awhile but we both agreed, “she must just be away…”

Today, while visiting Alice, we read Margaret’s Memorial Service announcement, “Lovingly Remembered”.  Not knowing her well, we shared what we knew… Margaret’s bright smile and big hugs and her great circle of friends at Grace.  One of the Hymns noted was, “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” …that was Margaret! 

There is another piece to this tapestry… I just found out this morning, Sheema, much loved and vibrant member of our Girlfriend’s Potluck group, passed away suddenly.  In sharing with Alice about Margaret, I was able to share my story about Sheema.  We celebrated both lives “…we touch others with His love…”   blw

Thursday, January 26, 2012

THUS DOES GOD ORDAIN

I’ve heard it said
Of an age-old seer
The ways of man
As old as they be
Are never to change
For that is the plan.

Goodness and love,
Man’s natural state
Forever lie buried
‘Neath wickedness gone mad.
So it is said.

But what of this voice
Crying out from within?
Man’s fate stems not
From original sin.
Nay, goodness and love
Come from within and above.

Though forces of evil abound
They’ll topple with nary a sound
With their battlements
Built on but sand.
This, and none other
Is the way of man.

Man’s natural state
Will ever prevail.
‘Tis goodness and love,
The essence of soul
That come from within
And above;
Thus does God ordain.

Garry D. Kilbourn
bwfaithministry

Monday, January 16, 2012

"...midst the chaos of life..."

Herein lies the dilemma common to many:  How, midst the chaos of life, to quiet the turmoil of the mind; to achieve a sense of worth; to know one’s purpose in life.  Happily, the answer to all such perplexing questions lies within us.

Egoism must first be tempered with humility, that we may mindfully go within in search of our other, higher, spiritual self.

In time, new-found values replace those of consumerism; values at one with our God-given Goodness.  Thus are we relieved of all disquiet, and thus, filled with inner-light’s glow, do we reclaim our humanity.

Garry D. Kilbourn
bwfaithministry


“…midst the chaos of life, to quiet the turmoil of the mind…”

Sunday, January 15th, in the Kensington District of the City of Calgary, sixteen souls from twenty-something to sixty-something, from the four corners of our world, braved minus 25 degrees weather to attend a *Positive Thinking class. 

One missed her bus and walked 40 minutes… “I just had to come,” she said; another, because of commitments, couldn’t finish the class when it was offered before, was here to start again; parking is at a premium, but sixteen of twenty-four registered made the commitment  midst the chaos of life, to quiet the turmoil of the mind”  through a course in Positive Thinking.

It was a wonderful experience to join with these souls who have decided to change their way of thinking.  blw


*Brahma Kumaris | Calgary Centre
Suite 100, 206 10A Street NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1W6, 403-209-2988 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Harmony of Body and Soul...

Take the time, in a quiet moment, to go within and look at your life.  Honesty and Humility are traits essential in revealing and coming to terms with our innermost being.  No less so is Belief, that wondrous spiritual sense which lends itself to Truth.
                                                        
Peace and Happiness result from Harmony of Body and Soul.  Embrace life heartily, while at once bathing in the divine light of the Soul, the embodiment of our God-given Goodness.

It is so freeing to love oneself and others.

Garry D. Kilbourn
bwfaithministry       

Harmony of Body and Soul

Have you sat with a friend who’s life’s journey has veered off  ‘The Plan’ into an unknown place of extreme mental and physical pain, disappointment in self and others, and feelings of despair.   

Louise L. Hay, You Can Heal Your Life, says, the ‘probable cause of cancer is… deep hurt. Longstanding resentment. Deep secret or grief eating away at the self. Carrying hatreds. “What’s the use?”’
                           
My friend and I laughed together, shared emotional highs and lows, hugged with love, and cried from deep within.  My friend is a high achiever in all areas of her life.  This diagnosis was delivered into a ‘perfect’ life!
                                      
I sat listening to and looking at this beautiful soul before me.  I don’t know how I can be so physically close to all of this pain and yet feel so far away from truly understanding all that she’s been through and yet to go.

Later, my heart spoke to me saying…
i am spirit, a spiritual being, i have an intelligent body, i have intellect, i live in harmony with my intellect and with my body, they talk nicely to each other, peace starts right here, we are not separate, we are in harmony, spirit talks with body, we live together, one helping the other… we are one body, one mind, with Spirit.  blw

Thursday, January 5, 2012

LIKE CALLS TO LIKE

If you walk as a friend - you will find a friend, wherever you choose to fare,
If you go with mirth to a far strange land you will find that mirth is there,
For the strangest part of this queer old world is that like will join with like,
And who walks with love for his fellowmen an answering love will strike.

If you walk in honor - then honest men will meet you along the way,
But if you be false - you will find men false, wherever you chance to stray.
For good breeds good, and bad breeds bad; we are met by the traits we show,
Love will find a friend at the stranger's door, where hate would find a foe,

For each of us - builds the world he knows, which only himself can spoil,
And an hour of hate, or an hour of shame, can ruin a life of toil,
And though to the farthermost ends of earth your duty may bid you fare,
If you walk with truth in your heart, you will find friends - everywhere.

by  Edgar A. Guest
(1881-1959)

A prolific English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People’s Poet.                                                    
 
 



 

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

It Follows Me

Whenever reach exceeds our grasp
Disquiet appears, quite unasked
Bag unpacked, as though to stay
A haunting shadow pervades the day
Where’er I go, with every thought
It follows me, though I’d rather it not.

Garry D. Kilbourn
January 3, 2012

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Soul to Soul...

A very dear Soul asked:  Does forgiveness have to do with emotion?   I've been thinking a lot about forgiving. It is something with which I struggle. Lots of people talk about it but no one seems to be able to explain how. I struggle with the balance of forgiving and setting boundaries. I was raised in an abusive home and that created a pattern for many of my relationships as an adult.

Dear Soul,

Thank YOU for writing and asking…I believe these are the first steps to freedom, liberation!  To recognize and to seek are priceless forms of action on your part.  Looking for ‘another’ way of seeing is full of hope.  Maybe we can journey together…I’m seeking too.  I’m learning to see through a ‘lens’ of spiritual love, the way God see’s His children…God only sees with love.

One new belief I’m embracing is that – when we or others act outside of ‘spiritual-love’,  we have temporarily lost our right mind…we are not in alignment with Divine Love… we have missed the mark.  It is an illness that needs forgiving…with the same compassion we feel for anyone with an illness we can ‘see’.  When I learned this precept, the AHA hit me.  I looked at myself, the many times I got angry and said things I couldn’t take back but just ached with ‘sorry-ness’; or when I gossiped about a friend; or when I told a lie…these things hurt me on such a deep level, in my soul.  I desperately needed to be forgiven but even further, I needed to forgive my-self. 

FOR-GIVE-NESS is all tied up in LOVE.  Love is the opposite of ‘fear’.  When I truly looked at WHY I did this and that…the reason was always ‘fear’.  I gossiped because of fear that I wouldn’t be liked; I was angry because of fear that I was losing control over the person or situation; I lied because of the fear of being found out I wasn’t good enough… all self induced fears! 

In all of these, I WAS ILL, I was not in my right mind…if I had been, LOVE instead of fear would have been present.  My mother, father, husband, friends have all abused me in various ways and because of not knowing they were ill, not in their right mind, I turned to abusing my-self. 

BUT NOW I am on the path of Knowing these truths and I FORGIVE myself and everyone because WE need it, deserve it and GOD knows this is the way to freedom from burdens…the way to living a liberated life. 

Soul, you speak of boundaries… I believe our boundaries are set by the way we respect ourselves and others.  I’ve learned that how I treat others is what I get back from them.  We have been given ‘self’ mastery, not ‘other’ mastery.  ANYTHING that happens ‘out there’ creates a feeling that is caused by our belief…we must look within ourselves to figure out why we feel this or that.  Everything that happens is ‘neutral’ UNTIL we attach our belief or feeling to it.  Everything is to be corrected inside ourselves…this is where the struggles start and end.  It is never “they did this to me” that causes anything…it is all in our beautiful mind that we need to learn (like a physical muscle) to control.

All of this is what I’m learning.  This Knowledge, this way of looking at my mind, is freeing me from my demons and feelings of unworthiness…I never want to go back to my old ways now that I’ve found the freedom to love myself and others unconditionally with compassion.  Abuse is crippling !!! but if we desire to live the best life we can, then we owe it to ourselves to be free of anything that holds us back.

With all my love, dear Soul !   blw
bwfaithministry