The Words of the Hwang Family |
On January 1, 2014, True Mother entered the room where members were waiting to begin Hoon Dok Hae and immediately announced the motto for the New Year, "Let's become true owners of Cheon Il Guk who practice true love in resemblance to our Creator, the Heavenly Parent!" She said that this would be our motto not only for 2014, but for every year until 2020. It is an amazing aspiration for each one of us, challenging us to become the kind of people who embody the ideal we have learned about from our True Parents, the original ideal of God.
As we contemplate how to fulfill this motto, let us examine it more closely. It calls upon us to resemble our Heavenly Parent in one specific aspect, the practice of true love. In order to do this we have to clearly understand the way our Heavenly Parent practices true love.
Divine Principle tells us that true love is innate within our Creator. It flows forth from God's heart like water from a spring. Then, what does it mean to "practice" true love? As a Creator, God takes this innate force and directs it with his will to nourish his creation. As a Parent, God directs his innate true love to nourish his children. He wants to see us grow, to fulfill the potential he imbued in us. To that end, he has devoted his entire being.
True Father has explained to us in depth the extent of God's suffering as a parent whose children were lost and damaged through the Fall. Yet our Heavenly Parent never stops pouring out his love for us, believing in us, and upholding his expectations of us. He continues despite facing disappointment, rejection and betrayal because of us. God's practice of true love knows no limits and accepts no constraints. It is eternal and unchanging. Our Heavenly Parent has such a high and noble character. How can we be like that?
In reality, it is not easy. We live in a world where we face many limits and constraints, both within ourselves and from the society around us. We become tired and discouraged when people and circumstances fail to meet our expectations. God lives in a distant abstract reality, but we have to face this harsh earthly reality. How can we resemble that kind of parent?
In response to this dilemma, our Heavenly Parent sent our True Parents to us as examples. We have only to examine their lives to learn how to practice true love. We have listened to True Father speak for hours and hours, beyond earthly reason, in his intense desire to share his understanding of God's will and God's love. We have seen how he reached out to powerful people, even his enemies, to explain to them the time they were living in and their potential to impact the world if they would only unite with God's will. We have seen how he initiated one project after another to bring people together across racial, religious and national barriers and create peace and harmony among them. True Father has shown us how to practice true love. Can we be like that?
We also have another example of true love. Through all Father's activities -- his speeches, his campaigns, his travels -- there was one person always at his side. One person shared his demanding lifestyle, sleeping very little, ready to pack up and go here or there at a moment's notice, tirelessly and without complaint, for over fifty years. One person shared his suffering, his struggles, his pain, understood his deepest heart and supported his highest ambitions. One person lived a life of absolute selflessness to fulfill her holy mission alongside her husband. That is True Mother.
True Mother has lived an astonishing life. She gave birth to fourteen children, several by Caesarian section. She endured the loss of four of her beloved children. She never had the time or opportunity to pursue her own interests. Through every kind of hardship and trial, she remained absolutely obedient to True Father and focused on God's will. That is why our Heavenly Parent can completely trust this beloved daughter to guide his providence forward toward the firm establishment of Cheon II Guk on earth. True Mother has shown its how to practice true love. Can we be like that?
Our True Parents have bequeathed to us the incredible position of owners of Cheon II Guk. This heavenly nation exists as a clear reality in the mind of God, and in the determination of our True Parents, though it has yet to fully manifest upon the earth. Our motto calls for us to become "true owners" of Cheon Il Guk. This is the second challenge it poses for us. If we build this nation with our own sweat and blood, surely we will be worthy of being called its true owners. If we raise our children to serve this nation, they will become the princes and princesses of the heavenly kingdom; our families will become the noble families of Cheon Il Guk.
In this era of Cheon Il Guk, our life of faith requires that we grasp the vision of our Heavenly Parent, pull it down to earth and secure it firmly upon solid ground. We will need to work together, following the examples of true love set by our True Parents. Can we do this? How many Unificationists does it take to build a nation? I don't know the answer, but surely our Heavenly Parent does. If we don't have enough, we simply have to create more!
True Mother keeps reminding us, gently but persistently, that we must witness to the people around us and bring them to True Parents. If we truly love people and see them from the viewpoint of our Heavenly Parent, as lost children, we cannot help but reach out to them. They need us, and we need them to work with us to complete our divine mission. This is nothing other than the practice of true love and the responsibility of true owners of Cheon Il Guk.
Our motto is both a blessing and a heavenly challenge. Let's work together to make it a reality.