Ep 443 - Spreading the Word and Practicing True Love Part 3
Spreading the Word and Practicing True Love #78-3-12-40 - January 11, 2022
Today I’d like to talk about “Spreading the Word and practicing true love” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 1.
Recently, I probably told you about the story of the monarch butterfly. With its small body, it travels 5,000 kilometers from Canada to Mexico. It does so in order to multiply. The course it needs to fly. It was not taught how. Yet, it finds that place, returns to its hometown, and multiplies. Human beings in this fallen world are living in a way that is less profound than this small creature, this insect. You have to stimulate people's original minds and teach them what kind of beings we are and that we must meet the True Parents. They have to be reborn through True Parents. Only by attaining new life in this way can they return to the state that our Heavenly Parent envisioned for human beings at the time of the Creation. Even though the tiny insects know the way they have to go, human beings are ignorant. But you know True Parents, and you are living in attendance to them.
In other words, you are all wealthy people. You are not wealthy people because you have a lot of money, but because you are happy and are big-hearted. Sharing this with others should be the way you live. If you live a happy life with everything you need, the final place to go is God's kingdom in heaven. If you lived alone in heaven, you would not be happy. You would be lonely. We have to go all together. In this light, nobody else is happier than we are; nobody else is wealthier or more deeply blessed than we are. We can share this. Yet the world does not share, right? Even though they already have something, they still want to take away from others, right? However, we share our blessings, which is why they multiply. We become wealthier. We become happier. This is all thanks to True Parents. (2014.11.30, Cheon Jeong Gung)
In Hawaii you can find banyan trees. They are huge and leafy, so they provide shade in the strong sun. People can rest under their branches. This tree does not grow toward the sky, but its branches extend down to the ground and it produces numerous roots, which expand more and more horizontally, so the tree gets bigger and bigger. The branches reach down into the ground like roots to help the tree be strong. I have self-realizations when I look at the natural world our Heavenly Parent created. Like that tree, True Father explored wild and remote areas around the world and he expanded his roots of love with numerous conditions of devotion. He came as the True Parent, and created a foundation for victory for humankind for the first time after 6,000 years, but when looking around the world as a whole, we see there is still so much more we must accomplish through our devotions and effort. (2014.05.11, Cheon Jeong Gung)
Today, we will take time to learn about the Bar-Tailed Godwit and banyan trees that True Mother is talking about.
I did a little research, so let’s study together.
The bar-tailed godwit is a large wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, and a long upturned bill. Bar-tailed godwits breed on Arctic coasts and tundra from Scandinavia to Alaska, and overwinter on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of the Old World, Australia, and New Zealand. Bar-tailed godwits nesting in Alaska travel all the way to Australia and New Zealand. They undertake the longest non-stop migrations of any bird, and to fuel this carry the greatest fat loads of any migratory bird so far studied, reducing the size of their digestive organs to do so.
Bar-tailed godwits breed in Alaska but spend the Austral summer in New Zealand and Australia, making the journey there and back every year of its 22 year expected lifespan.
Around 325,000 godwits make the trip annually, typically completing it in two stages - moving from Alaska to the Yellow Sea between mainland China and the Korean peninsula and then onto its summer home. Prior to the flight, their fat reserves generally constitute more than half of their body weight.
In 2021, a male bar-tailed godwit, 4BBRW, set a new record for non-stop migratory flight with an 8,100 mile (approximately 13035km) flight from Alaska, USA to New South Wales, Australia.
The Bar-tailed Godwit like the monarch butterfly overcomes many difficulties and harsh climates and flies thousands of miles in order to find a place to live. True Mother said that only fallen humans live without knowing where they came from and where they should go. Therefore, we have to learn from all things, she said. Just as animals lived based on their natural instincts, if humans had not fallen, they would also have lived according to their original nature. So they would know well where their original hometown is and what they should center on in life.
True Mother said that we are happiest among happy people. This is because through Heavenly Parent and True Parents we came to know the path to go. We could receive the Blessing and directly attend True Parents. Therefore, our responsibility is to become a person who connects to the Blessing and gives happiness to those who do not know Heavenly Parent and True Parents through the heavenly tribal messiahship mission.
The banyan is one of more than 750 species of fig trees, each of which is pollinated only by its own species of tiny wasps that breed only inside the figs of their partner trees.
Banyans are strangler figs. They grow from seeds that land on other trees. The roots they send down smother their hosts and grow into stout, branch-supporting pillars that resemble new tree trunks.
Banyans are the world’s biggest trees in terms of the area they cover. The biggest one alive today is in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It covers 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres) and can shelter 20,000 people.
For thousands of years, people have used banyans as sources of medicines. Today in Nepal, people use banyan leaves, bark and roots to treat more than twenty disorders.Hindu texts written more than 2500 years ago describe a cosmic ‘world tree’, a banyan growing upside-down with its roots in the heavens. Its trunk and branches extend to Earth to bring blessings to humanity.
The amazing thing about banyans is that they grow upwards as well as sideways by dropping aerial roots to the ground from the undersides of their branches. When these roots reach the ground, they thicken and form a new trunk. For a fully grown banyan tree with many branches and trunks it is often difficult to tell which one is the main trunk or the core.
True Mother said True Father explored the remote areas of earth and, like the banyan tree, put down roots of sincerity and love. True Mother said that as blessed families who live attending True Parents like the banyan tree, we should put down roots of true love, true life and trune lineage and become heaven for countless people … like the banyan tree. We have to be that kind of shelter where everybody can come and rest. Our True Parents laid that kind of foundation for the sake of the world. That’s why Mother asked us to be like that.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: Principle of Creation 9 - Life of Give and Take Action
• Through the agency of universal prime energy, the subject and object elements of every entity form a common base and enter into interaction. This interaction, in turn, generates all the forces the entity needs for existence, multiplication, and action.
• The interaction generating these forces through this process is called give and take action.
Based on this EDP content about give-and-take action, let’s study Father’s word.
Partner’s Expectations Grow as Much as the Give and Take
<60-163> What kind of person is God? He is a master who comforts all sadness. Again, what kind of person is God? He is a master who supervises death and life, happiness and misery. Therefore we tend to rely on Him for everything. Consequently, a person with a heart of concern for others is similar to God and has the same objective form as Him, thus He will come even if we say don’t. Even if we tell Him not to stay in a virtuous place, He will be there. Thus, what you must think about is the person who sympathizes with a miserable person becomes his friend. Isn’t it so?
True Father said God has no choice but to come to those who have a heart of concern for others because they resemble God. Therefore God will stay forever with those who always give and give for the sake of others, even if they tell them not to. God wants to stay with a good person who always lives for others and gives to others. Therefore, in order to live attending God, you should always live with concern for others and do good things for others as God does. Love is really concern (about others). When you love your own children, you are always concerned.
If we have no concern, that means we have nothing to do with that person and completely ignore him. It is not easy to make a beautiful relationship with somebody if we ignore them and do not have give and take with them. Love always starts with concern. When parents are concerned about their children and their children are concerned about their parents, they (each) worry about what they are doing, whether they are sleeping well, eating well and resting well. Love always starts from concern. This is an important point.
Reason Why Children are Undutiful
<60-163>The reason why children are undutiful is because they couldn’t receive their mother’s and father’s love. They resist as much as their lack of love. Isn’t it so? Then when a person who loves them even more appears they are won over. The world’s logic works that way. It doesn’t work through power or tricks. In the same way you have to form a relationship with everything through jeong seong. You must do this.
True Father said the reason why children are undutiful in the family is that they could not receive their father’s and mother’s love. They resist as much as their lack of love. Therefore, if your children act undutifully to you, the first thing is that you will pay indemnity through your children if you could not be filial to your own parents in the past. This is an important point.
Sometimes I see my children’s problems and reflect about myself: “I did such and such with my own father and mother. I did (related) to my Abel with that kind of attitude. Before having children, I could not settle my fallen nature. That is why all my children inherited such problems from me.”
Whenever we see our children’s fallen nature and problems, we always need to reflect about ourselves. We are the ones who pay indemnity through our children if we could not be filial to our own parents. (Also,) we were not filial to our own True Parents in the past.
Secondly, the reason why children oppose their parents is that the parents did not love their children enough. So, rather than complain about your children, repent for not loving them properly. If someone accuses and opposes me, it is an expression of (their desire) to be loved more through me. Therefore, you should love and care more for them. We don’t (need to) say any word. There is no other way than this.
Since all accusation and dissatisfaction begin with a lack of love, there is no other solution than to create a relationship of love and sincerity for everything. It does not work through force or tricks(?) or hitting. There is only one way: you need to love and invest, more than just talking about it, and truly repent. Without repenting, but just blaming my children and scolding them and giving sermons, (this) does not work at all. Especially in the relationship between parents and children, God’s word does not work.(?) Without talking much I need to repent, truly repent, and sincerely invest my heart and love for my children. Neither force nor tricks(?) works. That’s why sometimes it takes a long time.
However, as much as I change myself, as much as I remove my fallen nature, surely someday my children will come back. This is a very important lesson from True Father. The reason why children are undutiful is that they could not receive their mother’s and father’s love. If some accuse me, that means they really want to receive love from me. We need to think that way. (We must not) just criticize them. Father is really an incredible teacher.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: What Kind of Place is Heaven?
First of all, I would like to introduce some Bible verses. At the end of today’s Youth Ministry, I will talk about this Bible verse content. Let’s read this Bible verse.
John 6:1-15, Feeding Five Thousand
1 Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias.
2 A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him.
3-4 It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down.
5 When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, "Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?"
6 He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, "Don't you know that it would take almost a year's wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?"
8 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples. He spoke up and said,
9 "There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people?"
10 The ground was covered with grass, and Jesus told his disciples to have everyone sit down. About five thousand men were in the crowd.
11 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.
12 The people ate all they wanted, and Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing would be wasted.
13 The disciples gathered them up and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves.
14 After the people had seen Jesus work this miracle, they began saying, "This must be the Prophet who is to come into the world!"
15 Jesus realized that they would try to force him to be their king. So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone.
1. We are always talking about Heaven. What do you think of Heaven? Heaven is possible when I am completely possessed by God. While on this earth, Jesus lived a heavenly life. Of course, Jesus’ life was the way of the cross, but in his relationship with God, he was one whose life was possessed by God. This was because Jesus lived always reporting to God and asking for permission. Jesus lived by receiving approval from God in all circumstances. Heavenly life is nothing special. Living a life under God’s dominion is the heavenly life. In other words, it is a life where you do not have your own opinion and do not act in your way, but live according to God's will and always invite God.
2. When we talk about Heaven, we usually only imagine it externally as something very splendid and wonderful. However, as we grow older and mature, we will come to understand that the life in Heaven is a life where we live together with God. First of all, in order to experience the heaven of the heart, you must live with the Word. You must taste the happiness that comes from living with the Word. When the word of God enters into you and becomes life, you should experience infinite strength and joy in your life, and be grateful for everything.
This is the kingdom of heaven. In order to taste the kingdom of heaven you need to have that taste first through the word. When we listen to a sermon, when we read God’s word, some words really stimulate you and become alive in your heart and mind, and you can feel incredible strength and joy and happiness. You feel so grateful; you can overcome any difficulties. This is the power of God’s word. That’s why you need to understand the importance of God’s word. If you really taste God’s word, how powerful (it is), how joyful it makes me, how strength-giving it is; then that is already the kingdom of heaven.
That’s why in order to begin the kingdom of heaven, in order to experience the kingdom of heaven, you must first of all experience it through God’s word. That is the formation stage through God’s word. Through tasting God’s word, how powerful it is; when God’s word comes to your heart and becomes your life, you can have a really transformational experience. You can see a new heaven and earth, you can see a new environment, new all things (creatures), new people, and everything is fresh. This is the power of God’s word.
What does the fall mean? The fall means the loss of God’s word. You need to recover God’s word. When your original mind tastes God’s word, wow! Everybody, any evil guy, can have a transformation experience. God’s kingdom of heaven begins from God’s word. That’s why those who do not have an experience of God’s word, their entire life they do not know how to taste God’s kingdom of heaven.
You must first experience the Heaven of the Word in order to go to the next level. Therefore, those who do not value the Word, that is, those who have not tried to receive grace through the Word, can never enjoy the taste of heaven.
3. Next, what is the life heaven that I feel around me? It is a life where I give up my circumstances and my wishes and live only centered on God's circumstances, heart, and wishes. The happiness you feel when you live with the heart and wish of God rather than your own is the life of heaven.
When you are inspired by God’s word, you want to give up your own things, your own idea, your own job, and you want to completely contribute something for the sake of God’s will. Then you get out of your home and from the church and go to the front line and really try to find someone who can be the same as you, inspired by God’s word. That is the next level. The second level of the kingdom of heaven is when you are inspired and give up your own circumstances, your own wishes, your own life, completely deny yourself and just focus on God’s wishes; then you can feel that that is another level of the kingdom of heaven.
The happiness you feel when you receive infinite comfort from the spirit world and heaven when you live your life to liberate and comfort the pitiful God rather than your own happiness is the life of heaven. Then, what is family heaven? It is a life where all members live as one family, serving God as their parents. Also, family heaven is the place where members of a family serve each other as God and live in harmony. Heaven is not about enjoying material abundance on this earth and bragging about it in front of others.
4. Heaven is a world where families are harmonious and churches and nations all serve only God centered on His Will and Word. There, material and human become one, and joy and love are abundant and material is also abundant, that is the Kingdom of Heaven. Just now you read the Bible. In the Bible, it says that five loaves of barley was enough to feed 5,000 and there were still leftovers. Did Jesus really feed 5,000 people by miracles? Or, like the heart of the boy who brought his own barley loaves and offered it to Jesus, all the people gathered there may have offered up the barley bread they brought with a desire to serve others because they were really inspired by Jesus’ words.
If everyone came with a heart of serving others and each ate only a little and there were leftovers, that place is Heaven.
Of course, Jesus could have made a miracle and fed 5000 through a miracle, but (there is) another perspective, I think, about the theme of the miracles of the five small loaves of barley bread and two fishes. The miracle of the five small loaves of barley bread and the two fishes that fed 5,000 with more than enough to eat can be interpreted as giving away the food they had prepared and (offering it) to others, only eating a little, so that there was a lot of food left. If this is true, then this world is a world of heaven.
5. It is Heaven to think that I am more happy to see others eat deliciously rather than putting it in my own mouth. The fact that five thousand people had left over five barley loaves could be because people with a heart for each other offered to serve others rather than eating themselves, so there were more barley loaves left. Even if I can't eat, if I see other people eat, feeling full without eating is Heaven. A world where people are hungry for what others have, and having envy and greed for what others have, this world is hell. Therefore, each of us must first become a person of heaven, and secondly, we must form a heavenly family, and then we must form a heavenly church by gathering heavenly families together.
This is a miracle.
Two fishes and five barley loaves; of course, Jesus can make that kind of miracle, but we need to think in another way. (Maybe) those who were gathered were inspired by Jesus -- I don’t know what kind of sermon he gave, maybe living for the sake of others and helping each other. If 5,000 people were touched by the Holy Spirit and inspired by Jesus’ word, “one who gives to others never perishes,” if, let’s say, Jesus spoke using this kind of topic, how beautiful a giving life is, then when lunch time came and everyone felt hungry, Jesus blessed the food, trying to serve food for others. If each of them, most of them, were inspired by Jesus’ word and shared their food, (thinking) “Even though I do not eat, even though I am hungry, let the other person eat first,” and everyone said, “OK, you eat first,” if everyone had that kind of heart, living for the sake of others, then in the end so much food (would have been/) was left (over) because everyone had brought their lunch box or whatever.
That is the kingdom of heaven. Even though I am hungry, if those who are really hungry and thirsty (can eat), and I serve food, helping others, who happily and joyfully eat something, then even though I am hungry and do not eat, I have had so much spiritual food. This kind of world, we can call God’s kingdom of heaven. If we have that kind of beautiful heart, putting(?) others first, giving to others first, consulting others first, wow! This is the kingdom of heaven! If we practice this lifestyle in our family, that is the family kingdom of heaven. If we practice this kind of lifestyle in our tribe, then this is the tribal kingdom of heaven. If the entire nation practiced this kind of principle, then that nation is the kingdom of heaven.
(About) this miracle lesson actually we (might) only think about it in an external way, “Oh, Jesus made a miracle and fed 5,000 people. That’s it.” But we need to think that God wants to teach us. Any event, any miracles, behind them God wants to teach us, “That is a beautiful heart: living for the sake of others.” If we truly practice from our original mind and put God first, put others first and think of ourself later, if we have that kind of mindset and attitude, our family, our tribe, our nation, our community, how beautiful they can become.♦
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 and at text.morndev.com & yong.hoondok.com. Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com.♦