Ep 624 - A Life Of Gratitude Part 4
Life of Gratitude - July 11, 2022
PDF Printable Text and Images + Testimony Yen Grand
It is a beautiful Monday today.
Yesterday you may have heard the news about former Prime Minister Abe and our movement. The problem seems to be working (out) fine. Don't worry too much. Now we are adjusting and (resolving) that. I heard (some positive) news from here and there.
Yesterday, we had a commitment ceremony for the Augustine Maddox-Eunmi Rangala couple and the Yuki Watabe-Shawna Lewis couple at the Clifton Church. The room was very full upstairs and downstairs. It was really beautiful.
Yesterday's worship service was, in a word, a melting pot of grace. Parents shared testimonies about their own children. Each couple gave a message to the participants and the future spouse, and then they signed on the matching form. Then, they bowed to True Parents, and the children bowed to their own parents. Also they exchanged gifts.
I replaced the sermon with a congratulatory address. I (also) gave them a benediction prayer, and we had a cake cutting together.
Yesterday's worship service was truly a Cheon Il Guk worship, and it was a beautiful worship service where everyone experienced heaven.
I think this is a great strategy. I think for Sunday service we can have such an engagement ceremony with many young people gathering together. This is a great example of a service. At the same time these young people had a strong commitment to have the matching and Blessing ceremony as well.
Today I’d like to talk about “A Life of Gratitude” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 1.
We must always start each day with a grateful heart. We are gradually aging. All people are very interested in health, but the most important thing about health is always living with a positive, happy, grateful heart. When we open our eyes in the morning, we should smile and shout out, “Today I am beginning a happy day!” It is said that if we do that, all diseases fall away, and endorphins are produced. Therefore, we become more healthy and efficient in our work. (2006.03.22, Japan, Tokyo)
Humans want to live for eternity but with the body, we meet a limitation. In the future, our environment might improve and we might live up to a 100 or 200 years. In the end, however, we still have to return to our eternal original homeland. True Parents how grateful should you be! It is True Parents who called you from Satan's grip, gave you the Blessing, believed in you, and said they will bless you so that you can form a lineage of noble God-centered families through your descendants. True Parents do not exist all the time. They only exist within this era—while I am still on earth. You have received all the blessings you can get on earth. If you can throw away your greed, envy and jealousy, and live in gratitude, then every day would be the kingdom of heaven. (2016.07.07, Cheon Jeong Gung)
True Mother said, “We must always start each day with a grateful heart. We are gradually aging. The most important thing about health is always living with a positive, happy, grateful heart. When we open our eyes in the morning, we should smile and shout out, ‘Today I am beginning a happy day!’ It is said that if we do that, all diseases fall away, and endorphins are produced.”
Then here is the question. It is our task to know how to always have a positive, happy and grateful heart. Even people in the secular world who do not know God’s Will tell us to always have a habit of positivity. However, that's not a fundamental solution. If I believe in God as my parent and think of myself as God’s child, I can always have a positive mindset. If I believe in God as my Father and I believe that I am the absolute child of God, then everything is absolutely 100% positive.
If you think of and believe in yourself as God's, you will have the conviction that nothing is impossible, and that you can do anything. However, positive thinking without God is limited and unsustainable.
A positive mindset, positive thinking comes from God... God is my daddy, my father, my parent. In the name of God I am a child of God. I can do anything in the name of God.
But some only have human thinking, “I can do it. I need to have a positive concept.” You will surely be limited. Anything that comes from human beings’ ideas and thinking is surely limited.
God has no limitation. That is why you really need to believe in that: “God is my parent. I am a child of God. I can do anything in the name of God.” Then you have so much spiritual power!
If I think that God is my parent and I am His son or daughter, it is like gaining the whole world, so whatever I see is hope and joy. How happy I am that the great being who created the heavens and the earth, and all things is my Father!
Believing that I belong to God heals all diseases in the spirit body and physical body, and makes me happy and grateful every day. In this way, if you get rid of human fallen nature, throw away envy and jealousy, and live with a grateful heart, your life itself will be heaven every day.
Human responsibility is to be thankful, no matter what adversity, trials, and persecutions come. Cain's failure in Adam's family, Ham and Noah's wife's failure in Noah's family, and the Israelites' failure in the wilderness were caused by complaints and dissatisfaction.
In other words, if the heart of gratitude disappears, dissatisfaction is bound to occupy my spirit body. Despair begins when our gratitude in our lives diminishes. A life with less gratitude and a lot of dissatisfaction is bound to always bring indemnity and bad luck.
Therefore, when a life of gratitude becomes a habit, my life changes, my partner changes, my children change, and my family changes. You should make it a habit to write a gratitude diary to always express gratitude. I want to rename the gratitude journal, the Hyojeong journal or diary. It becomes a habit when you practice at least one thing for 3 years. The first challenge is to try for 3 months, then go beyond 21 months, and then try to win with 3 years. Then wonderful miracles will come in your life.
That’s why in order to start a good habit, you need to adjust(?) centering on a certain time period. I am telling you, (at) every hoondokhae we need to start reading with gratitude. This is the key. My life becomes a happy life, and the grateful life comes from the mindset of gratitude.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: The Principle of Creation 58 - The Reciprocal Relationship Between the Physical Self and the Spirit Self
The Structure and Function of the Physical Self
• The physical self consists of the dual characteristics of the physical mind (subject partner) and the physical body (object partner).
• The physical mind directs the physical body to maintain the functions necessary for its survival, protection and reproduction.
• For the physical self to grow in good health, it must absorb air and sunlight, which are intangible, yang types of nourishment, and eat and drink food and water, which are tangible, yin types of nourishment. The body has give and take with this nourishment through its digestive and circulatory systems.
• Good or evil in the conduct of the physical self is the main determinant of whether the spirit self becomes good or evil.
• This is because the physical self provides a certain element, which we call the vitality element, to the spirit self.
• In our everyday experience, our mind rejoices when our physical self performs good deeds but feels anxiety after evil conduct. This is because vitality elements, which can be good or evil according to the deeds of the physical self, are infused into our spirit self.
Father’s words:
We Must Purify our Physical Selves Through the Process of Spiritual Works
<76-134> While praying, our members are doing works. We call these spiritual works. Spiritual strength enters like electric energy. Those of you who have experienced this will know, but when high-pressure energy enters, an energy stronger than our own consciousness enters. This is the consciousness of another world. When you feel supernatural and superhuman emotions, our fallen physical selves will certainly oppose your original nature and God’s original nature.
Life in the Spirit World is Determined by one’s Earthly Life
<59-50> When we go to the spirit world, we have all of eternity. If you could take action once at the earthly world, you would not be able to help but follow it for all of eternity. Do you understand? Because everything you do lasts forever, you will end up following the results of those actions for eternity. When this happens, you will probably work hard to live your life; but how will you figure out your identity? Have you thought about that? The only way to figure out your identity is through your earthly life. This is only possible while you abide in the flesh. However, you cannot figure it out by centering on yourself. If there was a way to figure it out by centering on yourself, Reverend Moon of the Unification Church would absolutely not have worked so hard for the last fifty years.
True Father says that every physical human life from birth to death and every moment in the spirit world are recorded in the spirit world forever.
Since any action, once done, remains forever, its consequences follow forever. And since the spirit world is an open and transparent world, everyone can completely see each other. The world where things can never be hidden is called the spirit world.
If there are any wrong mistakes or sins in my life, how can I correct them? Once you leave your body and enter the spirit world, it is almost impossible to straighten it out again. There is only one way to fix it, and it is possible only when you use a physical body.
Just as the fruit must be attached to a tree in order to grow and mature, the maturation of an immature spirit body is only possible when using a physical body.
Once the spirit has gone to the spirit world after leaving the body, there is only one way to complete its immature self, which is to come down to earth, enter the body of someone on earth, and grow together. This is the law of the spirit world and the kingdom of heaven.
It is said that no matter how many mistakes you made, if you repent a lot, have a pure soul, and have many achievements on earth, all your mistakes will be covered.
What is the best way to cover my wrongdoings, my mistakes? You need to have a lot of great achievement centering on true love. Then all your mistakes will be covered. But you can only solve the problem when you are wearing a physical body. If you have died and gone to the spiritual world, you will need to come back to the earth and search for someone with whom you can cooperate. There is no other way. That is why our physical body is very important.
That is why you should not die easily. While we are on earth, we need to fulfill our portion of responsibility. Our spirit body needs to become mature, and we need to become a perfect being.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: One who Joyfully Keeps the Law of the Word
1. In the life of formation stage faith, if you keep the law of the Word happily and well, you will gradually come to stand in and think from Abel’s position. However, those who obey conditionally or reluctantly since it is Abel's command cannot exceed the faith of a servant who only obeys commands. No matter what you do, there is no joy if you do it compulsorily or under a condition. Those who gladly keep the law of the Word not because God commands them to keep it find that as they observe the law of the Word, all those things are for their own growth. Because the law of faith is the law of the heart, it always gives freedom to my heart when I do it with joy. Although the law of the mind binds the body, the mind is freed. Our body wants more sleep, more food, and more comfort according to its wishes, but the law of the mind binds the body and overcomes the environment, so we gain freedom.
A life of faith in the formation stage tries to obey the law of the Word, but a happy heart is not yet well developed. Formation stage faith is simply obeying, conditionally following commands, or doing so as an obligation. In a word, it is the same as obeying as a servant when the master commands.
We know that we have experienced a life of faith, but there is no joy in doing whatever we do if we do so compulsorily or conditionally. So, in order to go beyond formation stage faith, you must think and practice all the words for your own growth. Then, you will feel a voluntary heart.
If I think that I am doing it for my own growth, not because of someone else, my mind will change to having a voluntary attitude.
Because the law of faith is the law of the heart, it always gives freedom to my heart when I do it with joy. Although the law of the mind binds the body, the mind is freed.
According to my life of faith, anything I do conditionally or unwillingly or reluctantly, I need to pay indemnity (for) all the time. But whatever I do voluntarily with joy and with a mindset of gratitude, my heart is so free and I so enjoy it!
That’s why we need to maximally utilize our heart with a happy mind, joyfully, gratefully. Then we don’t pay indemnity. But anything we do by force, conditionally, unwillingly, we always need to pay indemnity (for). That is my experience. That is why whenever I do something, I need to do it with gratitude joyfully, thankfully. This mindset is very important.
In the formation stage we do things conditionally, unwillingly: “Because of an order or because this is God’s will, I need to do it. Because Dr. Yong emphasizes one-hour EDP, I need to do it.” If there is no volunteer heart, (we) easily become sleepy and spaced out.
How can we have our heart well up? That is always the issue.
The Law of the Mind and the Law of the Body
2. Those who gain joy of the heart are not governed by the law of the body. The law of their own mind controls their body. However, those who are dominated by the law itself, saying that it must be obeyed because of the law of the Word, have not yet been freed from the law. Those who have a happy heart and are truly voluntary and active in keeping the law of the Word are growth stage people. They do not think that the law was made by someone else's order from the subject position, but that the law exists for themselves. Those who attend worship services, tithe, or witness because they are the words and wishes of God and True Parents, are conscious of and practice the law, so they simply follow the Will. That's why those who just obey and follow never find peace in their heart.
When it comes to keeping the law of the word, if you do it because your heart is happy, and do it voluntarily and actively, you will become a believer who has reached the growth stage. A person who does not think that a certain command or law of the word to be obeyed was made by someone else's command, but thinks that the law exists for themself, is practicing faith at the growth stage.
Joy always comes from voluntary action. Joy is created when you do it from the heart. Of course, everyone starts with conditional faith. However, the reason believers set certain conditions is to overcome those conditions and become a happy and joyful person regardless of the conditions.
If we tithe, witness, attend worship services, or keep traditions as an obligation, our inner person will not grow. Whatever you do, you must do it with a voluntary and joyful heart and invest your Shimjeong to bring about proud achievements and gain peace and happiness.
The Reason Faith Becomes Frustrated and Exhausted on the Way
3. While doing hoondok, since people who are practicing their life of faith at the formation stage level do it with a sense of duty and responsibility that they must do it, they easily get tired and sleepy while doing hoondok. This is because such a person does it according to their subject partner’s commands, but because they do not have a voluntary heart within themselves yet, their hearts are not evoked. Actually, the law of the Word does not try to restrict the body but tries to give the body freedom, joy, happiness, and life. We can transcend the law of the Word only when we rejoice in the law of the Word, give thanks, and do so voluntarily. If you are not governed by the law of the Word with joy and simply follow it conditionally, you will not have any joy and your faith will be easily frustrated.
Then how can you always have a voluntary heart? You need to think that the law of the Word exists for me. And you need to think that the law of the Word exists to help me grow. You have to throw away the idea that we do it because of somebody.
Also, the law of the Word does not try to restrict the body, but we need to believe that it tries to give the body freedom, joy, happiness, and life.
If I follow the law of the Word while rejoicing, it brings results of winning over the person speaking to or commanding me. If I put it into practice with joy, I can win over the one who commands me. Those who do it out of a sense of duty can never win against those who practice it with joy.
To Gain Real Freedom
4.Since the Jewish people of the past just consciously followed the traditions of the past, Jesus rebuked them for being people who pretend. Since the Jewish people thought of laws that were traditionally passed down as a simple tradition and ritual, they were unable to gain freedom in their hearts. It becomes like that when you follow the law reluctantly and without a choice. If you also offer sacrifices and observe rituals reluctantly, you lose the purpose of keeping the law. The purpose of the law is to gain freedom, life, wisdom, and ability, not to torment me. Therefore, in this formation stage, I must overcome my own body by voluntarily and joyfully keeping the law of the Word.
If we consciously follow the traditions of the past, it becomes easy to simply habitually follow them without any heart. If we just externally follow traditions and habits that are passed down, our spirits easily become dry and we easily become people who pretend.
Therefore, if you keep the law reluctantly and without a choice, anyone easily pretends. If you also offer sacrifices and observe rituals reluctantly, you lose the purpose of keeping the law.
Our purpose for keeping the law is to gain eternal freedom, life, wisdom, and ability, not to be tormented. Therefore, in this formation stage, I must overcome my own body by voluntarily and joyfully keeping the law of the Word. This is the way to overcome our formation stage.
In the formation stage sometimes we need to use force, to do (things) by force. It is better still to do something than not to do anything. But sometimes we need to push our body. That is formation stage; we have no choice. Formation stage means pushing yourself. Gradually you become more internal and do things happily and joyfully with your heart. That is our goal.
Once again I would like to mention that this is the 40-day jeongseong period before True Father’s tenth Seonghwa anniversary. Many things are happening internally and externally.
I am also grateful to (former Prime Minister Shinto) Abe. Even though he has died, we really appreciate what he has done for us. We pray for him that he have a safe journey in the spiritual world.
Let’s invest our heart in the 40-day condition before True Father’s tenth Seonghwa anniversary.
Now one of my staff, Yen Granada, will share her testimony.
LIVING TESTIMONY: I’m a Living Testimony for Whom Anything is Possible
(Testimony of Yen Grand (Aireen Luz Granada) Philippines Victory & Online Holy Community )♦
(In the) formation stage you always need to do (things) by force. You have no choice. “I have no choice. I have to do it by force.” Then gradually you improve and enter the growth stage. Finally in the completion stage you completely use your heart. Your heart always wells up and (you do things) voluntarily and joyfully. That is our goal. For human beings it is not easy to do this in the beginning, but we need to (invest) our effort. In the beginning we need to begin by force, by duty and by responsibility. Gradually, gradually we reach the final stage (doing things) voluntarily and joyfully centering on God’s heart.♦
NOTE: This lightly edited transcription may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable or uncertain words and guesses are tagged with a “(?)” and indecipherable phrases, with an ellipsis “...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken if the meaning is clear, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated. This text and the PowerPoint slides from this speech are available as PDF files at the top of this text. Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com. Notes or transcripts of Dr. Yong’s Morning Devotion speeches from November 11, 2020 through March 29, 2022 are available as six paperback books at cost at Lulu.com/Shop -- search for Dr. Chung Sik Yong -- and as PDF downloads free of charge at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.♦