A Smile

A smile costs nothing, but gives much.

It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.

It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.

None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.

A smile creates happiness in the lonesome, fosters goodwill in business, and it is the countersign of friendship.

It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the outraged, sunshine to the sad, and it is nature’s best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.

Some people are too tired to give you a smile.

Give them one of yours, as non needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

Author Unknown

Comparisons

It is an idle, self-destructive, path to trod when we set out to compare ourself with another.  Jealousy and envy cannot but arise to poison our thoughts and adversely affect behaviour.

We are simply not like any other.  We each have our own identity and our own reason for being; that is to say, our own unique purpose in life.  And it is one to celebrate.

There are some, to be sure, who intuitively know their destiny early in life.  Others, no doubt the majority, encumbered by the vicissitudes of life, must each strive to find the truth.

How to know our purpose, to live a life fulfilled, is less a matter of the mind than one of going within to awaken the soul, thus to connect with our higher, spiritual, self.  However hard and however long, it is its own reward.  

Garry D. Kilbourn

bwfaithministry                                                                                                 

“…when we set out to compare ourself with another…”

My first memory of comparing myself with another  was at the age of seven.  Mom and I had just moved to Penticton.  We met a wonderful ‘Father Knows Best-type-family’ who took us under their loving-wing.  Instead of feeling blessed, I compared us with them.  Comparing did not end there.  It has been a life full of comparisons… always under the veil of never feeling ‘enough’.  With many thanks to *Positive Thinking and Meditation classes and nourishing myself with spiritual study and amazing friends, I celebrate an awakened soul.  blw

*Brahma Kumaris | Calgary Centre

Suite 100, 206 10A Street NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1W6, 403-209-2988 

Email blwoodard@shaw.ca  Healing Circle registration

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ARAB SPRING

Pain-wracked bodies submit

to hearts now stilled;

Immortal souls set free,

yet still beseeching love.

Pain-wracked bodies despoiled

by a tyrant’s hand.

Our cries so oft repeated

go silently unheeded.

Some, we know yet hear

our plaintive cry: These,

our fellow brethren for

truth are ready to die.

Truth’s clarion call

will not be stilled.

Th’ oppressor, with his

evil ways, will fall.

Garry D. Kilbourn

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

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

"...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 15^th, 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 

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