Guideposts for Successful Living Kathryn Kuhlman

I can always remember something that hung on the wall of our dining room at home. It was something that was very precious to Mama. She lived by it. Her life proved it. And when Mama went home to Glory, there were several things because of their wonderful memories. And because they meant much to Mama, I brought back with me. Among them was this little something that always hung on our wall in the dining room. I took it from out of its frame. I have it before me now. It's called Guideposts to Success. Years have passed. since I was a little girl, and it was placed on that dining room wall. I have lived, I have experienced. Years have made changes in my life. But today, I appreciate the words of that which meant much to Mama. More than I have ever appreciated these words before in all of my life. Go out of the way to please others. Determine to be kind and helpful to everyone. Be truthful and optimistic no matter what happens. Make a great... Effort always to give everybody a lift whenever possible. To make everybody you come in contact with just a little better off for that contact. To radiate sunshine, cure hope, goodwill, and to scatter flowers as you go along the way. To enjoy each day. To live the present to its utmost and not to wait. for tomorrow before you begin to enjoy. This it is that opens wide the door to happiness. You must believe in a religion of love. Love for everybody and everywhere. The rich and the poor. The well and the afflicted. That is the religion of love. It satisfies the heart. It is deep enough for the soul and broad enough for the whole world and everybody in it. Arise in the morning with a blessing on your lips and in your soul for every living thing. Be glad that you're alive. and able to enjoy all that is beautiful and good. For remember, you passed through this world but once, and any kindness that you can show to any human being, do it now. Don't defer from it. Be thankful for each day, and get out of it all the good that you can, and put into that day, all the good possible. Learn to help bear the burdens of others without burdening them with yours. Learn enough of sorrow to be able to sympathize. Be happy. That's what makes life worth living. Laugh. Love. And give, for there'll come a time when you can't. Keep your face always towards the sunshine, and remember, the shadows will fall behind. In other words, live each day as though it were your very last day on Earth. Make this your philosophy of life, the symphony of your soul, and life will be sweeter in every way. This is what I took from out of its frame and brought with me when Mama left to go home to glory. This. was my mama's philosophy. This was my mother's guidepost to success. As her daughter, I too have adopted it. It works. For remember, life is so short. Oh, it's so short. Time is so limited, and there's so much to do, for there are so many who need our help. I would ask for the gift of conviction, to feel those things that now I only know. I would ask for the gift of remembrance, To be always conscious of how much I owe to others. Especially to God. I would ask for the gift of softness of heart. Oh, it's so hard in these days to become calloused. To become... unsympathetic. I shall ask that my heart shall not become hard. I would rather be a pushover than a cynic. I would ask for the gift of suffering. For you see, When I suffer and I have had the experience of a broken heart and I have gone to the valley of weeping, then I am touched by the suffering of another. I have a greater understanding in their hour of grief. You cannot give to another unless... you too have experienced. I will not shrink from suffering, for it will make me a better person, a person of greater understanding. I would ask for the gift of sight to see those good things that Now I miss because they're so close to me. So many things that I take for granted every day of my life. They're so near to me. So close to me. I have missed the true values of life. My eyesight is so dim. that sometimes I miss seeing the things that are most important to me. And sometimes I get my eyes on things that are among to so little. Yes, I would pray for the gift of sight. I want to see those little... of things that others forget and do not see. It may be a tear on a baby's cheek. It may be the little bruised toe. A little foot that needs a pair of shoes. Let me see the burden of that heart. behind the smile on somebody's face for i've learned a long time ago that the greatest burdens are carried by the folk who wear the sweetest smiles i would ask for the gift of song to fling toward the sky the music in my heart I want to sing when the night is dark. Let me sing when the stars are no longer in the sky. I want to sing when my own heart breaks. Because if I can sing in my own sorrow, it may help to put a song in another heart. It may put a melody on the lips of someone whose burden is almost too heavy to bear. I would ask for the gift of penetration to live in the depths as well as on the surface. Oh, beloved, it's in the depths. that real character is made. I don't want to live a surface life. I don't want to be a shallow person. I want to be deep in my thinking. I want to live in the depths where I can feel Feel the sorrow of others. I can feel the nearness of my master. Lead of his spirit. For these things are never experienced by living only on the surface. I would ask for the gift of charity. To love. And love. And love again. I want a fresh baptism of love. I represent him. Not myself. I represent him, the one who is love. And in representing him, I must love, not as the world loves, not a shallow love, not a selfish love, not with a love that asks in return something else of my fellow men. Let me love without a selfish motive. Love enough to forget the failures of my fellow men. Love enough to overlook their ugliness, their bruises. Love enough until the influence of my life is felt by them. It's then only that I am able to talk to them. about the one who loved me enough to give his life for me. Until that sinner feels my love, my sermons will never touch him. I will mean nothing to him as a minister. I must love first. And then he'll feel my influence. As a Christian, I want to love until I can forget any hurt or any wrongdoing toward me. When I love enough, I can always forgive. I would ask for the gift of identity, always to be myself, always. I must be myself. I must be me. I must be true to my conviction. Yes, the gift of identity, since I am the image of God. I would ask for the gift of perspective, to be wise enough to see how little I really know, and to be large enough, to be big enough, to see how small I really am. And finally, I would ask for the grace to know when a gift is given. to hold on to it, use it, and then look up and say, Thank you, Heavenly Father, for Thou alone is the giver of every good and perfect gift. This day I give myself to Him with perfect confidence, knowing He'll Take care of you and me.