Bethel community centre inc.

NEWSLETTER

JUNE 2015

Hello and the Blessings of Love to each and all!

We told you in December that a decision needed to be made by June as to whether we could financially continue

for another year. As we connect in the energies of Love across the spaces I am delighted to tell you all that we

live to celebrate another year of BEING. What brilliant news is this!!!

We are grateful to each and all who have contributed to making this possible. We have a small group of you who

kindly share your financial resources to enable the retreat to be possible for others. In addition to this there are the

big expenses of the annual Insurances etc., and then, an unexpected expense occurred when my car was written off

in April. This is our Bethel car also and it would be difficult to function without it. It would be SO simple if we

didn’t need to deal with money, however, some of you enable us to keep LOVE’S DREAM ALIVE by

contributing your own unique gifting.

Love’s caring became real for us through the generosity of two people who have donated the finances needed to

cover these BIG problems. There is no way we could have continued had this not happened. A huge ‘thank you’

to each who have taken the financial burden from us, enabling us to do what we are able to do best...provide the

retreat for as many as possible thereby sometimes ‘saving lives’ and definitely enriching the lives of so many.

A very BIG THANK YOU to each of you who contribute your spiritual, physical, financial energies, thereby

actually being the HEART of all we are and do here. There can be no price put on all of this and we know that

Love is gifting each one uniquely for your kindness. You encourage us to continue to ‘keep on keeping on’

providing “Healing Life’s Hurts Retreat’ for our guests today and into the near future. You make the Energies of

Love REAL through living your own unique expression of LOVE.

Again today I have received an email from one of our guests from over TEN years ago.... ‘I hope you remember

me, Bethel saved my life’!! We are touched deeply each time we hear these words and this inspires us to continue

to do all we can to make our retreat available for as long as possible.

Our July retreat has been fully booked for the last two weeks (five weeks before the retreat!) We have two more

Healing Retreats –12 September and 21 November. We are offering the ‘follow -up Retreat, ‘Living the Energies

of Love’ again on 17-23 October. This retreat is also filling so if you are interested in being part of this special

week, please email as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. This retreat is a ‘holiday with Love’ and is an

opportunity to deepen one’s relationship with Love and to deepen our enrichment of life. Needless to say this is

also a ‘silent’ retreat with all of the relaxation this brings.

We offer the reflections in this edition to enrich and encourage each of us to live our lives CONSCIOUSLY and

thereby deepen our own healing and to contribute to the healing of the planet and it’s people. May we delight in

so much that is good and beautiful in our own lives and in our local communities. May we celebrate all of the

simple things of life and share a smile along the way. There is so much that is special happening in our midst so

let’s connect in the Energies of Love and rejoice in all the blessings we all enjoy.

We hope that something within these pages will encourage and comfort you. Maybe it can be the incentive you

need to open your journal again and reconnect with Love in dialogue or maybe take some hurt you are

experiencing to Love for healing.

In the Energies of Love

Julie

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Co-creation: May we all celebrate encouragement and ideas that build upon

each other thus creating a beautiful world for all TODAY.

Oneness: As we continue to live with respect we will see ourselves in each

other.

Creativity: Let’s explore all the possibilities that each new day gifts us and

delight in all the hidden gifts within ourselves waiting the opportunity to be

celebrated.

Optimism: Let’s focus on all the new opportunities that each situation offers

to us. Count my blessings and so many more will appear.

Openness: Our minds and hearts are bubbling with surprises waiting for us to

unwrap.

Natural Adaptation: We can always discover new ways to live with a

situation that sometimes may seem to be too difficult.

Simplicity is such a gift. Just hear the laughter of children as they play in the

rain or chase the puppy.

Gratitude

Today I am grateful for .....

ABUNDANCE of ......

Emotional

Spiritual

Physical

Psychological

Financial

....... HEALTH

Every morning, when we wake up,

we have twenty-four brand new

hours to live.

What a precious gift!

We have the capacity to live in a way

that these twenty four hours will

bring peace, joy and happiness to

ourselves and others.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Yesterday is history

Tomorrow is Mystery

Today is GIFT - that is why it is called

THE PRESENT

What GIFTS delight me today?

‘If I always do what I have always done

I will always get what I have always got!

Is there any behaviour that no longer is working

which I want to ‘change’?

‘Be yourself! Everyone else is already taken!!’

Name some things that I like about myself

at this moment of my life?

The important thing to understand, is that it doesn’t matter

why a person says or does something because I have the

choice about how I want it to affect me. I can also choose

not to allow it to affect me AT ALL! The choice is mine!

Am I allowing someone else’s behaviour affect me today?

As I sit here in THIS moment

No one is hurting me!!!

In what area of my life am I ‘living in the past?’

When I catch myself looking for love, compassion, happiness

it may be a good time to remember I do not need to keep

looking to other people, places and things to satisfy my

search....If I go into my own beautiful heart......all I am

looking for is awaiting me!

Am I taking the time each day to ‘go into my heart to find

LOVE?

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE!

SHARED WISDOM

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What is my Deepest Fear?

Dialogue with Love.....

Love: Your deepest fear has been greatness, but you no

longer need to be afraid. You are already

walking the path to greatness. It is yours. Take it!

Me: But greatness sounds so far from my reach.

Right now, I would be happy enough to settle for

‘adequate’ ness.

Love: You are so much more than adequate. Listen to

the voice of your Love and believe in yourself.

I am here with you and we will walk together for

all the days of our life.

Me: But greatness sounds...well it just sounds so big

and grand. Who am I to aspire for greatness?

How would I even recognize it? What does it

look like?

Love: Inch by inch. Step by step. Keep putting the

good back into this world and when you and

greatness meet, you both will know!

.....Thank You Ian

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves Who am I to be brilliant?

Actually, who are you NOT to be?

You are a child of LOVE.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

So that other people don’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of LOVE

That is within you.

It’s not just in some of us.. It’s in everyone.

As we let our own light shine

We unconsciously give people permission to do the same.

As I am liberated from my own fears...and listen to

LOVE WITHIN ME

My presence automatically liberates others.”

[Excerpt from ‘Return to Love’ by Marianne Williamson]

Often, what keeps us from JOY is the menacing

assumption that life is happening other than where we are.

So we are always leaving, running from, or running to.

All the while, joy rises like summer wind, waiting for us to grow in

the open, large as willows it can sing through. Yet failing to grow

in the open, we can be worn to it. Though working with what

we are given till it wears us through seems to be the grace we

resist.

Like everyone, I’ve spent so much of my life fearing pain that

I’ve seldom felt things all the way through. And falling through

more than working through, I’ve learned that if we stay true to our

experience and to each other, and face the spirit that

experience and Love carry, we will be eventually be reduced to

JOY. Like cliffs worn to their beauty by the pounding of the sea, if

we can hold each other up, all that will be left will be

WONDER and JOY.

[Mark Nepo]

ABOUT JOY

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WISDOM GIFTS

These are real life stories that teach you many things in life. Excellent reading.

These are based on true incidences both wonderful and inspirational.

1. Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class. When I

asked her to define success in her own words, she said, ‘Success is when you look back at your life and the memories

make you smile.’

2. Today, I asked my mentor, (a very successful business man in his 70’s), what his top three tips are for success. He

smiled and said, ‘Read something no one else is reading, think something no one else is thinking and do something no

one else is doing’.

3. Today, after a 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug. When I

tensed up, she realized I didn’t recognise her. She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and

said, ‘On 9-11-2001 you carried me out of the World Trade Centre’.

4. Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just

before he died, he licked the tears off my face.

5. Today, I woke up at 7a.m. feeling ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went into work. At 3p.m. I was laid off. On

my drive home I got a flat tyre. When I went into the trunk for the spare, it was flat too. A man in a BMW pulled over,

gave me a ride, we chatted and then he offered me a job. I start tomorrow.

6. Today, as my father, three brothers and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last

coherent words before she died. She simply said, ’I feel so loved right now. We should have got together like this more

often.’

7. Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About 5 seconds after he passed, I

realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was as a little boy.

8. Today, in the cutest voice, my 8 year-old daughter asked me to start recycling. I chuckled and asked, ’Why?’ She

replied, ‘So you can help me save the planet’. I chuckled again and asked, ‘And why do you want to save the planet?’

‘Because that’s where I keep all my stuff,’ she said.

9. Today, when I witnessed a 27 year-old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2 year-old daughter’s antics, I

suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.

10. Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my

backpack and books for me. He helped me all across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, ‘I hope you feel

better soon.’

11. Today, I was feeling down because the results of a biopsy came back malignant. When I got home, I opened an e-mail

that said, ‘Thinking of you today. If you need me, I’m a phone call away’. It was from a high school friend I hadn’t

seen in 10 years.

12. Today, I was travelling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days

and looked extremely tired and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first

thing the man said was, ‘We can share it’.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

....Thank You PC.

Holding on to Anger is like grasping a hot coal

With the intent of throwing it at someone else.

You are the one who gets burned! [Budda]

We are learning to honour anger

As we release it safely in our writing.

We walk free with renewed energy

Holding on to Anger is like grasping a hot coal

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I WISH YOU ENOUGH

Recently I overheard a Father and Daughter in their

last moments together at the airport. They had

announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and

the Father said, ‘I love you and I wish you enough’.

The Daughter replied, ‘Dad, our life together has

been more than enough. Your love is all I ever

needed. I wish you enough too, Dad’.

They kissed and the Daughter left. The Father

walked over to the window where I was seated.

Standing there I could see he wanted and needed

to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he

welcomed me by asking ‘Did you ever say

good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?’

‘Yes, I have’ I replied. ‘Forgive me for asking, but

why is this a forever good-bye?’

‘I am old and she lives so far away, I have

challenges ahead and the reality is –the next trip

back will be for my funeral,’ he said.

When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I

wish you enough’. May I ask what that means?’

He began to smile. ‘That’s a wish that has been

handed down from other generations. My parents

used to say it to everyone’.

‘He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to

remember it in detail, and he smiled even more.

‘When I said, ‘I wish you enough’, we were wanting

the other person to have a life filled with just enough

good things to sustain them’. Then turning toward

me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it

from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright

no matter how grey the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even

more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit

alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of

joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you

possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final

good-bye.

He then began to cry and walked away.

.....Thank You CH

THE AFRICAN CHILDREN’S CHOIR

On 11th June the Bethel Social Group went to a concert at Twin Towns Tweed Heads.

A good time was had by all!

The auditorium was packed. These children are orphans and members of a Choir that was

started 30 years ago when Uganda was ravaged by war .

Out of such adversity the Children’s Choir was formed and so the Love.

Love has done great things in educating these children, 52,000 in all, giving them a dream to

believe in themselves to go out and be leaders in their country.

The last song they sang was: ‘Let Your Little Light Shine’....The Light of Love.

that shines so brightly was so inspiring!

We all wanted to take them home, yet they said they needed to go back to their home to be

Leaders.

Even days later as I write this, I see their shining, bright, loving faces filled with happiness ...the

Light of Love in their whole being....in their eyes, voices, dance ...their soul spirit.

It was so beautiful to be part of that special time we all shared with these special children.

.....Thank You Lorraine

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Dearest Friend,

I write to you with much Love and renewed spirit. Thank you

for your gift of time shared with me yesterday. It is with joy

that I related to you my story of ‘hardship’.

As you know we first met when I was gifted with the blessing

of a week’s retreat at Bethel as there were no alternative

medical interventions available to me. I arrived a broken,

heavily burdened woman beyond my years on the verge of

total breakdown...ALONE....I left 7 days later with my ‘best

friend’ and a well of internal strength that has allowed not

only myself but my little family to endure incredulous circum-

stance.

For instance the current family challenge—the sudden onset

disability of my 10yr old son. He has an incurable disease that

has taken his mobility and independence away. He endures

biological medicine combined with steroids to mask the

inflammation. We cannot administer high level pain meds

due to his age and his mobility issues (meds block system

when confined to chair).

So Bethel –my heart thanks you. We could not take this on if

I had not been genuinely connected to the source of utmost

strength –the Universal Power of LOVE.

We have actively chosen as a family to live true to our

purpose: To Live With and For LOVE. This enables us to

find a deep well of comfort in the simple things that the

‘average Man’ takes for granted. We

teach our kids how to be self-sufficient

–a skill that is not only financially

beneficial but emotionally and mentally healng. Without my

Bethel training I certainly would not have come so far. I hope

you always live in the knowledge my friend that your genuine

care and empathy for the broken and challenged DOES make

a difference. NOT purely for the individual participant BUT

for the Whole Family Unit.

My continued Love and eternal respect for you and those who

awake each day willing to dig deep and genuinely be part of

the difference. You have been one of my personal ‘angels’

and I will always be ever grateful for the experience that has

saved my life not once but on many occasions.

.....Your fellow Love Warrior

.....Thank You B.

Nearly 12 months ago today (14/6/15) I packed my

bags and headed off for my Bethel Retreat.

I was going for one reason and that was to get over the

stress and anxiety caused from having a high demand

Government job.. I wanted to relax! But what I got was

a slap in the face with a hard taste of reality!

The silence and the stillness showed me that my

problems in life wasn’t my job. It was my lack of

confidence, self-worth and that for 30 years I’ve been

living a life complete of other’s expectations of me. I

had a picture perfect life - government job, 7 year old

marriage, 2 kids, built our dream home!

So what was missing? Why was I so lonely?

Love showed me that ‘I’ was

missing - my strength, my

confidence, my connection with myself. It was

all lost. I was living a life dependant on other’s approval

–verbally, emotionally and socially! I would spend

countless hours a day on Facebook looking for that

connection, that praise, that attention that I longed for.

Because something was lost inside of me.

The last 12 months have been a cyclone of emotions

and events. I am now separated, unemployed, trying to

pay my mortgage, a student again and the sole carer of

my children. From the outside my life looks like a crisis

situation (as people continue to point out to me) but on

the inside I feel more free than I’ve ever felt before. I no

longer feel a victim of people’s expectations. My life is

hard but 12 months ago it was hell of a lot harder!

Because I was denying myself. I do not feel alone. I

truly feel like an adult who has strength, courage and

boundaries now.

I have deleted Facebook. I have lost friends and I have

disappointed people. But my goodness I feel alive! I am

a 31 year old woman who honestly feels I am finally

finding myself and becoming an adult. I no longer show

anger towards my children that they don’t deserve and I

no longer feel the need to overshare my ‘proof’ of

happiness with people on Facebook.

I feel complete peace inside and truly accept my flaws

and endeavour to respect myself, my values, my

boundaries and my life. Life is not a picture perfect

moment. It is about expecting the best for yourself and

truly believing you deserve happiness. The love within

me gives me my strength and confidence to keep

moving forward one day at a time because I know I

deserve this life!

Thank you for all your love! Even though I put words on

paper, I don’t think you will ever understand the power

behind Bethel and your love!

.......Thank You T.B.

My Hubby & Son

Our Backyard Farm –

What’s for Tea??

YUM & real nourishment!

chronic nerve pain 24/7 and there noth-

ing we can do but LOVE him through it.

Medical treatment is chemotherapy/

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This morning I finished my retreat at Bethel and it was

one of the most perfect and memorable moments of my

life. The sun was shining and the air warming after the

coolness of night. The clarity and crispness of that au-

tumn day reflected how my eyes and mind saw the world.

Everything was in focus who I am and how I would like to

live for the rest of my life.

It was like I was being given the opportunity to start life

all over again. The pain and fears of the past no longer

control me. Bethel has equipped me with all I need to

cope with past and future hurt. Bethel has given me

freedom...Freedom to be me, to experience fully every

little drop of the love and wonder that is all around me.

Thank you again. My partner and daughters are

extremely happy to have me back, free of the darkness

that was engulfing me.

......Thank You SJ

‘D’s’ Reflections on …..

LIVING WITH AUTISM

Toxic is so right! You really hit the nail on the head hard then.

Toxic energies flow through the body when some event occurs.

It happens so many times over and over. Toxic energies of

denial, anger and sadness have flown too freely in me for too

long.

I’ve been reminded of them quite a lot over my life. I’m

preparing a presentation for a date that is yet to be set in

concrete. The presentation will be on what is it like to have

Autism in the form of Asperger’s Syndrome. Which is what I

was diagnosed with back in 1996.

When I look back on things now, I really have done a

remarkable job. Why, I’m still here today. I’m much better at

connecting with people. I still do worry about what I say and

do to others. I don’t need to, but that is a paranoid part of me

speaking in volumes.

In preparing this presentation, I’ve had to return to my past

where I’ve noticed a few things:

- I actually was sociable in my own way.

- I did have friends to call my own, a lot of them who are still

friends now.

- Overall, it was only a very FEW people who were

giving me a hard time. Often these people were the

SAME people.

- I never thought that I was perfect. There were times when

I did wrong, but they happen to everyone and doing

wrong is always open to interpretation.

Toxic is the world around us. So full of strange beliefs. So

full of wrong and right answers. So full of hate for those who

attempt to do good. We listen and try to respect others.

IT IS SO HARD TO TELL THE ONES THAT YOU LOVE TO

’SHUT….UP AND LET YOU LIVE...LET YOU BE! ’

That is because you don’t want to hurt anyone close to you

even if they don’t respect your right to be an individual. Who

needs to align to the status quo anyway? We are not sheep in a

flock.

I’ve been trying to convince my father to do a week at Bethel.

He won’t go, but I know that if he did he would get a lot of

benefit out of it.

Well I can only try.

‘D’s’ Reflections on …..

‘My Retreat at Bethel ’

I’m glad I came to Bethel. I’m glad that I have done it twice.

Both times have opened up my eyes. Both times the food has

been nice!

I’m glad that I came to Bethel to spend a week with Julie and

the team. To stay in the Gold Coast where it is not tacky. You

know what I mean.

Two separate weeks of listening to Love and hearing my own

story. Two separate weeks flew by like a dove. When I swam

in the ocean like a dory. Eat, drink, sleep and enjoy the

silence. Meditate at Oceanside where nearby planes took off

with quite some violence.

Do some writing, but break it up.

with a swim, a walk or a coffee in a cup

from the small shop out the front.

When Bethel is not on, customers are what that shop does hunt.

Two weeks of staying in luxury at 217.

Honestly, Ocenside is really quite like heaven.

Take that weird lift to meet others.

For meditation, companionship and house

keeping matters with these other LOVErs.

Share a room in silence with someone you have never met.

But that is fine, think of all the LOVE that you are going to get.

Work daily on the writing and the listening to LOVE.

Or, refer to it as God from above.

Break and walk along the beach to Coolangatta.

Through dry and wet sand, your feet do patter.

Two weeks of connecting with the real YOU.

As oppossed to the ME in society’s view.

Cleanse yourself of all the denial and all the anger.

Meditate whilst watching a plane park in a hangar.

Coming Friday morning get up to watch the sunrise.

Sprinkle ashes of writing into the ocean.

Feel all of the past hurts die.

Then onwards into the future is your motion.

Each journey at Bethel is individual, but each one really is a

must.

So I really must urge you all to spend a week here.

And to stop making such a fuss.

…….Thank you DK

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OUR EMERGING CONSCIOUSNESS

In essence, after nearly 14 billion years the Universe had created a way

to become aware of itself. We are the Universe reflecting on itself.

We are the Earth becoming conscious. And this changes everything.

Miriam MacGillis

We are the Universe in the form of a human. And it’s true of everyone.

It’s an amazing new understanding of ourselves that is so profoundly inclusive.

And everyone is part of this, everything is part of this and we discover as well

a profound kinship that no matter what being we are talking about we are related...

This is a massive change in human consciousness.

Brian Swimme

Why out of stardust has all this come to be? Why bird song....why the grandeur of the mountains...

why the oceans with their teaming billions of life forms?

We are part of a journey so much more than we could ever imagine...

Miriam MacGillis

As we move into this new understanding we have a new identity of ourselves

as cosmological beings....not any small category, we are the Universe in the form of a human

and it’s true of everyone.

This amazing new understanding of ourselves that is so profoundly inclusive

everyone is part of this –everything is part of this and we discover as well a profound kinship.

Brian Swimme

No matter what being we are talking about on the planet we are related in terms of energy,

w e are related in terms of genetic, we are all in one way or another a form of kin –it’s overwhelming!

It’s just now coming into human awareness it is going to take a lot of reflection to

embody the full implications –it is a massive change in human consciousness.

Brian Swimme

And now, this (new consciousness ) is causing us to awaken from our dreams of lonely isolation,

so we may rejoin the great community of life and take on our part in this

stupendous unfolding story. ‘This is our great work’.

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Since the Beginning Love IS!

In the beginning there was Love

Love dreamed of me and loved me into life.

Delighting in the wonder of my being

As I walk my human journey AS Love.

Love companioned me through years as I called in the experiences

That have chiselled a beauty in me

To BE ‘Love’ in my world.

That craves for the presence of Love’s reassurance.

Love reverences me as I discover the power of love within me

The amazing realization that I AM LOVE.

Love sings through me a song of Love

That brings healing to the hurting

Hope to the fearful

Passion to the disheartened.

Love breathes me into life each new day

With the gift of vibrant health

With beautiful people to nurture the life in me

With the wonders of nature to refresh my spirit of Loving.

Love sets me free from the enslavement

Of the behaviours I chose to respond to the pain of my life

Revealing to me the beauty hidden within the experiences.

Reminding me that I AM LOVE.

Love holds me in tender embrace

In those times when I stand poised between guilt and shame

When my addictive nature has made choices I regret

Love reminds me that I am not my addiction......I AM LOVE.

Love dances with me to the rhythm of my heart

That beats with the wonder of woman wisdom

And the freedom of life’s invitation

To choreograph my own unique creation AS LOVE.

Love is the breath of my being

Empowering the sacredness of me to salute the sacredness in you

And reverence the sacredness in all of creation

As I live my amazing essence of L O V E

.....Thank You Julie

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The missing part in us

Something in all of us strains for fulfilment. Some people spend their lives attempting to find it. They move eagerly

from experience to experience. Nothing ever really seems to do it. But they keep looking anyway.

Others, though, roll like glaciers, slowly and ponderously, deeper and deeper into themselves as the years go by,

becoming more and more taut, more and more quiet about life. They live it. They go on. But, far too often, they

simply fail to thrive. They get to the point where they are simply living it out. Then, however much they go on

breathing, they have stopped living. And they know it.

The missing element in life echoes like a chorus across the land. “If only we had a car, I could….” Or, “If only I had

gone to school….” Or, “If only I had not gotten married….” “If only… if only… if only.”

There comes a point in life when, having stopped living, we decide that life is simply a sour kind of trap and we are

in it. We look out from where we are like butterflies behind a Plexiglas screen. We cling to life, but never explore

beyond it. As a result, we can see what we’re missing and we resent it, but we do nothing about it.

It’s the missing part that must be attended to while we still have enough life left in us to respond.

The missing part is what the spiritual life is all about. And every great spiritual tradition has always known that. “I

fear that you will not reach Mecca, O Nomad,” Saadi of Shiraz once wrote, “for the road that you are following leads

to Turkestan!” We can’t get what we don’t aim for in the right places by the right means. We cannot fill ourselves up

with worthlessness and expect to find what is missing in us, or, even worse, to know in time how much we are really

missing. We are restless for a reason.

If the question is, Why does it feel like something is missing in my life? The answer is because the feeling of

emptiness is meant to move us on beyond where we are now to the fullness of life we are only here to discover.

— from Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and its meaning for you by Joan Chittister (Eerdmans)

A lady of society was gazing upon an image she had never seen before in the city’s museum. ‘My dear

fellow,’ she said condescendingly to the Curator, ‘ I have never seen this painting before. I find the

image shallow and rather crude in appearance. ‘What do you call this?’

The curator answered without giving the slightest expression. ‘That madam, is a mirror!’

The lady’s vision was not very focused.

Love is the lens that focuses our lives. Love should penetrate every relationship we have, not just

romantic and family relationships. Love is the energy we live in. Love is not a word, but an attitude that

we have towards others. Love is not dependent on others; rather it is a personal choice. You cannot

make someone else have these qualities of love, but you can make a personal choice in your attitude

toward them. It is not just a feeling; It is a matter of our wills.

We CHOOSE to love; we DECIDE to focus our vision on others.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM LOVE

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM

BE STILL AND KNOW

BE STILL

BE......

11

“RUNNING FROM or RUNNING TO”

There are parts of me I cannot access

Yet I find myself

Unsettled and restless

As the ocean buffeted by unseen forces.

I ask myself

‘What is it you are looking for?’

I know how futile a few hours of distraction always is

Yet I find myself there again and again!

What am I running from? Or maybe

‘What am I afraid to run to?’

This is new territory of life for me

When I have time and space

Is it in fact the ‘space’ that I am anxious about?

Space that is filled with PRESENCE

A presence that is filled with

Silence, serenity, peaceful reality

The reality of my NOW.

Each moment holds the promise

Of NEW LIFE ....yet unlived

This amazing PRESENCE

Is drawing me

Into my life abundant with possibilities.

MY possibilities

My yet undiscovered promise

That has always lived within me

This is my time of discovering the preciousness

Of my yet unlived PROMISE

LIFE IN MY SIXTIES!

These past five years

Have been endings and new beginnings

And sometimes ‘just sitting still’

Listening to LOVE’S INVITATION

Into the more

The more of ME that has always been here within me.

The goal is to show up. Be present. Be authentic.

Be YOU. You didn’t come here to be normal; you

came here to be YOU.

[Robert Holden]

What we are aware of, we can control.

What we are not aware of, controls us.

[Wayne Dyer]

I feel so much at one with the ocean

Speaking to me of the POWER OF MY NOW.

Yet sometimes I am like a wave

Restless and reaching to the ‘more’

That I am coming to realize is ‘already within me!’

I am coming to see the reality

That ‘I’.....the dancing wave

Am also that for which I search

The vibrant ocean itself!!

My Love I long for you

Restless, searching and unsettled

Yet you laugh with delight as I am slowly grasping

The incredible fact that all of my earth life

You and I are, have always been One!

No longer do I need to hear

How much I still need ‘to grow’

and ‘to become’.

I laugh and dance with you as I celebrate

The amazing TRUTH.

I came into this earth experience filled with

LOVE, LIGHT, PEACE, JOY, MERCY,

FORGIVENESS.

For so long I had forgotten ‘who I was’

NOW is my time to Live Deeply

As I run into the Essence of all

I have always been.

All I have looked for

Along all of those years

Has always been

WITHIN ME!

.......Thank You JO

Whatever our blindness,

the heart can sink below the noise of

it’s memories and wounds.

Mark Nepo

12

VISIT OUR WEBSITE!

www.bethelhealing.org.au

The first place many people make contact

with us is by way of our Website.

ALONE WE DO GREAT THINGS

TOGETHER WE CREATE MIRACLES!

Our Gratitude to our small group of people who

share in the life of Bethel through the gift of their

financial energies.

If you would like to Donate:

Banking Details: Bank of Queensland

Account No: 10459308

BSB: 124001

Please make sure your name is recorded with

your Bank Deposit.

ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE

Thank You ....your gifting

enables our Healing Retreats

to make a difference in the

lives of so many.

Bethel Community Centre Inc.

P.O. Box 1213

COOLANGATTA Q. 4225

Phone: 07 55 995473

Email: bethelhealing@bigpond.com

Website: www.bethelhealing.org.au

REMAINING

RETREAT DATES 2015

11-17 July: HEALING LIFE’S HURTS

12 –18 September: HEALING LIFE’S HURTS

17-23 October: LIVING THE ENERGIES OF LOVE

[For those who have already walked the

Healing Life’s Hurts Retreat]

21-27 November: HEALING LIFE’S HURTS

To ensure a place in your retreat – please

make bookings asap.

For all that has been THANKS

For all that IS THANKS

For all that is yet to come THANKS

And TODAY

I Live in the Energies of LOVE as I manifest

PEACE GENTLENESS KINDNESS

THRUTHFULNESS

FORGIVENESS JOY GRATITUDE HOPE

Living the Energies of Love

RETREAT

This week is an opportunity for those who have expe-

rienced the ‘Healing Life’s Hurts’ Retreat and wish to

take time out to explore...

In a contemplative setting you will explore

and experience -

Time to BE Time to experience

being in the The Energies of Love

with all Love’s gifting of... Compassion Tenderness

Kindness Peacefulness.

What it means to reconnect

in the deepest way

with the Energies of Love within

and become more creative

in how I live Love