Wednesday, August 31, 2016


Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. It was this kind of faith that won their reputation for the saints of old. And it is after all only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command — that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible.
— Hebrews 11:1-3  J.B. Phillips New Testament 

“Reaching For The Light”
What We’re 
Not Seeing … p 85

’Tis true for one
And true for all,
Happiness doth
The soul endow.
This gift of Life,
Tho veiled from sight
Lies deep within
Our Being.
’Tis here we look
With tender care
To see
What we’re not seeing.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Tuesday, August 30, 2016


[ The walk to Emmaus ] Then on the same day we find two of them going off to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem. As they went they were deep in conversation about everything that had happened. While they were absorbed in their serious talk and discussion, Jesus himself approached and walked along with them, but something prevented them from recognizing him. Then he spoke to them, “What is all this discussion that you are having on your walk?”
—  Luke 24:13-17  J.B. Phillips New Testament 


“Reaching For The Light”
The Art 
of Conversation … p 84

We experience a magic moment when, in all humility, we give our full attention to what another is saying; not only to hear what is being said, but that which is unsaid such that we come to sense the other’s true inner Being — the immortal soul. In a mysteriously wondrous way a spiritual bond is forever forged.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Monday, August 29, 2016


No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
— Micah 6:8  New Living Translation


“Reaching For The Light”
Walking 
In The Way … p 82

Come, walk with Me.
You will know Me,
Truly know Me,
When you know yourself.
We’ll walk together
In Love’s inner light
In our Sunday
Go-to-meeting clothes.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Sunday, August 28, 2016


“I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must go on living in my love. If you keep my commandments you will live in my love just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and live in his love. I have told you this so that you can share my joy, and that your happiness may be complete. This is my commandment: that you love each other as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this — that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. I shall not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not share his master’s confidence. No, I call you friends, now, because I have told you everything that I have heard from the Father.
 John 15:9-15  J.B. Phillips New Testament  more 

“Reaching For The Light”
Happiness … p 81

I am happy.
I am happy because 
I am at peace within.
Looking back, I mistook
Feelings of pleasure and delight
For happiness, sensations
Soon forgotten.
Happiness, true happiness
Lives deep within me —
It never leaves.
I found happiness
When I found myself,
My true spiritual Being.
True happiness comes
From loving myself
And others, and, finally,
From loving and being loved
By another.
I am thus blessed.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Thursday, August 25, 2016


[ Above all things be loving, humble, united ] Now if your experience of Christ’s encouragement and love means anything to you, if you have known something of the fellowship of his Spirit, and all that it means in kindness and deep sympathy, do make my best hope for you come true! Live together in harmony, live together in love, as though you had only one mind and one spirit between you. Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves. None of you should think only of his own affairs, but should learn to see things from other people’s point of view.
— Philippians 2:1-4  J.B. Phillips New Testament 

“Reaching For The Light”
Selflessness … p 80

We give of ourself
To heal the soul.
The reward,
Though not sought for,
Is of transformative kind.
Not least, to be sure,
It quiets the mind.
And our Goodness within
That awaits but a call
Heaps blessings on us;
Heaps blessings on all.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Wednesday, August 24, 2016


[The way out — new life in Christ ] No condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are “in” Jesus Christ. For the new spiritual principle of life “in” Christ lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death.
— Romans 8:1-2  J.B. Phillips New Testament  more 

“Reflections From Infinite Mind”
Completing The Circle … p 68

Obscured in the veils of selfhood lies a key that, when unearthed, frees us to become who we are truly meant to be. Whence we come and whither we go are long acknowledged as life’s abiding mysteries. Even so, we are sure to be taken aback with wonder if we but use our natural abilities of reason and intuition, day in, day out, to get a deeper understanding of our oneness with God, of our intimate relationship with nature. In the doing we undergo a spiritual transcendence which reveals itself in a deep sense of humility and selflessness: We are at peace within. We now feel compelled to give freely of ourself to others, to complete the circle through showing by example what it is we’ve come to know: Thus do we manifest God’s goodness and love.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Tuesday, August 23, 2016


[ I am thankful for your faith ] I am always thankful to God for what the gift of his grace in Jesus Christ has meant to you — how, as the Christian message has become established among you, he has enriched your whole lives, from the words on your lips to the understanding in your hearts. And you have been eager to receive his gifts during this time of waiting for his final appearance. He will keep you steadfast in the faith to the end, so that when his day comes you need fear no condemnation. God is utterly dependable, and it is he who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 1:4-9  J.B. Phillips New Testament
 

“Reaching For The Light”
Feel God’s Presence … p 79

Turn to God to calm
A troubled mind.
In the stillness of 
The moment let His
Presence be felt:
He is there.
We have but to 
Give thanks.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Monday, August 22, 2016


May your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
— Matthew 6:10  J.B. Phillips New Testament 

“Reaching For The Light”
Finding 
Our Way … p 78

God’s voice within,
’Tis ever true,
Is heard
In stillness of mind,
His message etched
As in stone.
That which we were
Is no longer:
Life, born anew,
Given to that of others.
Life fulfilled; that
Which we must do.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Sunday, August 21, 2016


So the word of God became a human being and lived among us.
 John 1:14  J.B. Phillips New Testament 


“Reaching For The Light”
Being … p 77

This, our earthly garment,
With that, our inner soul,
God doth freely give;
His breath of life the
Gift that makes us whole.
’Tis He who lives within us
And He who shows the Way.
’Tis ours to know His presence:
To love, honour and obey.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Thursday, August 18, 2016


I charge you in the sight of God who gives us life, and Jesus Christ who fearlessly witnessed to the truth before Pontius Pilate, to keep your commission clean and above reproach until the final coming of Christ. This will be, in his own time, the final denouement of God, who is the blessed controller of all things, the king over all kings and the master of all masters, the only source of immortality, the one who lives in unapproachable light, the one whom no mortal eye has ever seen or ever can see. To him be acknowledged all honour and power for ever, amen!
— 1 Timothy 6:13-16  J.B. Phillips New Testament

“Reaching For The Light”
Life’s 
Ultimate Triumph … p 76

Life’s ultimate triumph — no less its purpose — is the reunion of our true inner Spiritual self with the divine primordial force which is Life itself, and gives Life to all, God, who lives in us, and we in Him. It is a force within each atom of our Being, in all of nature and throughout the universe: a mystic force that unites one and all. To know it, is to be in touch with our own immortal soul and to know Truth, our ever-present providential guidepost. 
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Wednesday, August 17, 2016


[ Jesus is himself baptized ] When all the people had been baptized, and Jesus was praying after his own baptism, Heaven opened and the Holy spirit came down upon him in the bodily form of a dove. Then there came a voice from Heaven, saying, “You are my dearly-loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 
— Luke 3:21-22  J.B. Phillips New Testament

“Reaching For The Light”
The Voice of Love … p 75 

Some things I just know
The older I grow;
Of this ’tis easy to see
That God really watches;
He truly does watch over me.
Knowing I’m one of His own,
I know too I’m never alone.
When I stumble and fall,
As happens to all,
The Love that I feel
Is made ever so real
When His voice speaks
Only of Love; a voice that
Doth gladden my soul,
For ’tis God, and God alone 
Who makes me whole.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Tuesday, August 16, 2016


Here is a last piece of advice. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on the things which are holy and right and pure and beautiful and good. Model your conduct on what you have learned from me, on what I have told you and shown you, and you will find the God of peace will be with you.
— Philippians 4:8-9  J.B. Phillips New Testament 

“Reaching For The Light”
Spiritual 
Understanding … p 74

Enshrined in spiritous Mind,
Deign not to speak
Whilst understanding
Another.
Honour instead
Your quiescent
Sixth and Seventh senses:
Hear another’s silent outcry
Of the soul through
Intuition — truth’s revelator
And
Understanding truth unsaid.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Monday, August 15, 2016


“Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. The one who asks will always receive; the one who is searching will always find, and the door is opened to the man who knocks.”
— Matthew 7:7-8  J.B. Phillips New Testament

“Reflections From Infinite Mind”
Seek and 
Ye Shall Find … p 67

A life we all aspire to is one that is meaningful and worthwhile. Above all, it is purposeful: Well-being is not a chance encounter. A life well-lived is one wherein we are ever questioning with a view to understanding life’s purpose and our role in it. We each have our own story, one that we alone must resolve and learn to live with. By no means is it uncommon within life’s unfolding for all of us to suffer moments of mental disquiet leading to unhappiness and despair. In such moments it behoves us to go within, to reach out to God imploring His help. For affirmation we have but to turn to Matthew 7:7 — “Seek and ye shall find.”
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Sunday, August 14, 2016


And we destroy counsels, and all highness that higheth itself against the science of God, and drive into captivity all understanding into the service of Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 10:5  Wycliffe Bible 

“Reflections From Infinite Mind” 
Transcendent Thought … p 66

We have a moral obligation to be aware of our thoughts, not least to dismiss at will idle thoughts that forever plague the mind. Less apparent, though coadjutant to such an endeavour, is the need for us to draw upon our innate capacity to invoke transcendence of thought: Thoughts of oneness with God; thoughts of love for our fellow-man that take us into the realm of our own spiritual nature where we are at home with our one true self.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Thursday, August 11, 2016


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 The Message

“Reaching For The Light”
 Spiritual Awakening … p 73

It is not enough merely to make do with all that befalls us in life. Were we but to probe our own mind, to question our thinking, reason alone would tell us we have a moral obligation to shape our own destiny. No matter the cost to our ego, we must be ever open and honest with ourself. This means mindfully freeing ourself from memories of life’s hardships (real and imagined). And it means consciously confronting and laying bare repressed trauma, thereby forestalling subliminal outbursts of real-life memories together with unforeseen, ofttimes disastrous, consequences. Finally, it means acknowledging and surrendering to our true inner spiritual self. This alone is our providential guidepost, and this alone gives us abiding Peace and Harmony within.
 Garry D. Kilbourn




Wednesday, August 10, 2016


So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.
— Acts 28:28 New Living Translation 

“Reflections From Infinite Mind”
A Meaningful Life … p 65

Were we to give thought to the question: “Do I want my life to have meaning?” We would unhesitatingly answer “yes.” Instinctively we would know such a state of euphoria has naught to do with worldly fame. If our life is to be meaningful we must know with every fibre of our Being we have found our calling: That which we are meant to be and that which we are meant to do.

First, however, we must seek, not without, forever beset by worldly affairs, but within that we may find the truth that awaits us in our own spiritual Being. We alone are responsible for our thoughts and our actions; we alone, in the presence of God, must find our salvation.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Tuesday, August 9, 2016


But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
— Romans 6:22-23
The Message


“Reaching For The Light”
Gift of Life … p 72

The gift of life,
If truth be known,
Forever lies unseen,
Beguiled by mortal being.
The voice within
That’s never stilled
Is truth awakened
To illumine life:
Life and soul are one.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Monday, August 8, 2016


Jesus grew strong in mind and body. He grew in favor with God and men.
— Luke 2:52
New Life Version

“Reaching For The Light”
The Duality of Being … p 71

We are, each one of us, a duality: that of mortal body and immortal soul, each, in its own way, playing a vital role in our well-being. We need only take an honest look within ourself to realize that our everyday concerns all but invariably centre around affairs of the body, with little or no thought given to the soul. Experience alone tells us that these two separate though interdependent ‘Beings’ must work as one if we are to know inner peace and harmony.

In order that the soul may play its proper role, which is that of animating our spirituality and coming to know God, we must first take charge of the mind. Idle and mundane thoughts serve only to imprison us in mire. They are of no avail and must not be allowed to linger in the mind. To our good fortune such thoughts are readily expunged by thoughts that uplift and enliven the soul. We can begin doing this merely by giving thanks to God.

That we may become ever conscious of the soul — our life-giving force — we do well to begin, first, by taking our mind off ourself, then in selfless humility, look for the good in others, a simple process, figuratively speaking, of stepping back, becoming quiet within and listening. Thus does our intuition, our spiritual eye, come into play such that our higher — that is to say divine — senses enable us to at once see another’s goodness and to connect spiritually with his very soul. For both it becomes an ennobling experience.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Sunday, August 7, 2016


That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:9 
New Living Translation


“Reflections From Infinite Mind”
Imagining Together … p 64 

Pray, do not stand idly by, come with me into the wondrous light that, even now, we sense within the soul. See the peaceful, flower-filled meadow that so entrances the mind with thoughts of love. Freed of worldly matters in this transcendent state, we are equally freed of selfhood, overwhelmed with a deep and abiding sense of our own divine spirituality. Oh how real the light, the utter joy of Being.
— Garry D. Kilbourn



Thursday, August 4, 2016


neither they shall say, Lo! here, or lo [!] there; for lo! the realm of God is within you.
— Luke 17:21 
Wycliffe Bible 

“Reaching For The Light”
The ‘Who’ 
We Really Are … p 70

When the ‘who’
We show to others
Gives lie to
The inner soul
We have lost our way.
Fear not, for
’Tis but an illusion,
An aberration, a
Mind in turmoil
Working to obscure
The ‘who’
We really are, the
God-given ‘who’
Forever resting in
Peace, Love and Harmony.
We have but to 
Quiet the mind,
Be still and
Surrender to our
True inner Being:
To God within.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Wednesday, August 3, 2016


Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
— St. John 16:13 
King James Version of the Bible

“Reaching For The Light”
God and Man … p 69

When we think of Spirit as a vibrant, living force of energy, we as well properly attribute to it Divine Wisdom. As an emanation of the Soul, which is engendered and sustained by that wondrously mystical primal force of God, Spirit is the ever-present medium binding God and man. Spiritual energy is the Christ, the Holy Spirit, that which affords our communion with God through prayer: a harmonious force which heals both soul and body.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Tuesday, August 2, 2016


[ We live a transitory life with our eyes on the life eternal ] We wish you could see how all this is working out for your benefit, and how the more grace God gives, the more thanksgiving will redound to his glory. This is the reason why we never collapse. The outward man does indeed suffer wear and tear, but every day the inward man receives fresh strength. These little troubles (which are really so transitory) are winning for us a permanent, glorious and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain. For we are looking all the time not at the visible things but at the invisible. The visible things are transitory: it is the invisible things that are really permanent.
— 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 
J.B. Phillips New Testament


“Reflections From Infinite Mind”
Inward 
Enlightenment … p 63

Those earnestly seeking inward enlightenment, who take the time to think for themselves, continually questioning the whys and wherefores of life, are those who, in time, will be gifted by God’s grace with knowledge of their true spiritual Being. Imperceptibly such are transformed, free of worldly dross, at one with their fellow-man, at home in Elysian bliss.
— Garry D. Kilbourn


Monday, August 1, 2016


Jesus said to them again, “Yes, peace be with you! Just as the Father sent me, so I am now going to send you.” And then he breathed upon them and said, “Receive holy spirit. If you forgive any men’s sins, they are forgiven, and if you hold them unforgiven, they are unforgiven.” 
— John 20:21-23
J.B. Phillips New Testament


“Reaching For The Light”
The Breath of God … p 68

That primal force of Purity,
The Essence of all life,
Lives within the soul,
Never wasted, never lost,
Its spiritual emanation
The mystic tie with that
From whence it came:
The Breath of God.
— Garry D. Kilbourn