Concentrate On The Essentials Of Life

In Jin Moon
May 23, 2010
Lovin' Life Ministries

On the morning of May 23, 2010, Rev. In Jin Moon spoke about the important path that each of us takes to understand who we are and the meaning of our lives. Rev. Moon specified that if we feel we have lost our direction or purpose it's because we have lost touch with our souls, and have not yet had the realization that there is a very special meaning for us to take part in the journey and process of life. When we start realizing that any difficulty we're faced with is an opportunity, if we concentrate on the essentials of life every obstacle that we meet along the way we only be an "added spice that will make the end meal that much richer and that much more satisfying".

Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone? What happened this morning? So much energy! The congregation feels like you started the day off with a protein shake or something. I'm delighted to see you once again.

As was mentioned earlier, we have a lot of people from all across the country together with us on this Sunday attending a seminar for the satellite churches. I am so delighted to hear that the seminars went really well and everybody had a great experience. I heard that a lot of people were inspired and more excited than before in terms of applying what we want to do with Lovin' Life Ministries in the second year. I want to thank you for your participation and your support.

Part of the reason why I wanted to start off my sermon with a video clip of what goes on behind the scenes is that I really would like everyone in the audience to realize how much work goes into preparing a Sunday worship service like this. This is not just about coming and hearing Rev. In Jin Moon speak. It's really a group effort here. So many brothers and sisters go about their business to make this Sunday what it is.

I feel that probably the most important thing that this video shows is that people understand that we're doing something good for the community, we are doing something good for the world, and we are doing something good for the movement. There is an understanding that we are applying the philosophy of living for the sake of others every time we prepare for another Lovin' Life Service.

This is an opportunity for me as the senior pastor to thank my team and to thank a lot of people whom you don't see every weekend, but they are the ones that make Lovin' Life what it is. So could I ask you to give them a round of applause?

I may be the mouthpiece or the face of Lovin' Life Ministry, but I certainly cannot do what I do without the rest of my body -- the hands and the feet and the torso, the knees and the ankles and the elbows and the fingers that allow me to do what I do. I could not do it without them. So I'm always deeply grateful for such a great team that I have working together with me.

I was meditating this morning and thinking about what I can share with the congregation, what I can talk about that can really help you understand that this is such an incredible time that we're living in, and this call to live for the sake of others is an incredibly profound thing that we have a chance to apply in our lives.

I thought I'd take a moment to talk about the meaning of service. Over the years our True Parents have taught us that probably the greatest thing we can do with our lives is to live for the sake of others. I've often thought that the First Generation of our movement took that to heart so literally that they were dying for the sake of others. They were so giving of themselves, so sacrificial that perhaps they forgot to feed their children, to check whether the mortgage on the house was sound. Perhaps they forgot to provide clothing or a proper notebook for their child to start school in the fall. The First Generation gave so much of themselves, living for the sake of others.

I'm a huge believer that our Heavenly Parent did not create each and every one of us in such a unique and special way just to make us suffer. I believe that God created us in this way because our Heavenly Parent has a special destiny for all of us. Our Parent in heaven knew that the best way to bring out the beautiful characteristics within us is by practicing, living, and applying this simple philosophy of living for the sake of others.

In the morning, when I think about how I'm going to go about the business of the day, living for the sake of others, I keep a couple of things in mind. One of the first things I remind myself is something that my father told me a long, long time ago during our summer of fishing at Gloucester. I asked him, "What do you mean, living for the sake of others? How do you live for the sake of others? I live because I breathe, and I walk and I talk and I sing and I read. But how do I do that for the sake of others?"

My father looked at me and said something I can never forget. He said, "In Jin, you have too many questions. But I like that because that means you are searching for an answer. You are searching for an understanding and meaning in your life. I like that." Then he said, "You know, living for the sake of others is a very simple philosophy, but it's probably one of the most difficult things you can do with your life. It's remembering God, your fellow man, and your brothers and sisters before yourself. So when you're hungry, you want to eat; but before you eat you remember God and you remember the people in the world who might not be as blessed as you are to have food in front of you. Remembering that, you're grateful for the plate of food in front of you. And you're grateful for the family that prepared this food for you. Then you can eat."

Father said something very interesting. "When you're living for the sake of others, it's almost as if you were chosen by God to serve. Service is incredibly important when you're living for the sake of others. How do you serve others?" He said, "A doctor might think that the best way to serve his patients is have the greatest knowledge of the medical texts. Or a musician might think it's the virtuosity of his performance -- his agility and skill -- that inspires people."

Also on that day Father told me something I think is extremely profound. He said, "You don't serve people with what you know or with the profession that you do well. If you are a true doctor living for the sake of others, you serve your patients with who you are. If you are a true musician, you are not serving the audience with what you are, a performer of incredible virtuosity, but you serve the audience with who you are." My father said that an understanding of who you are comes first and foremost in understanding that God is our Heavenly Parent. When we understand that, and when we understand that we are his sons and daughters, we realize that we're part of something incredible -- this incredible universe, this rich reservoir of true love that flows through our veins. We are eternal beings, divine beings. When we realize these things, it helps us to go back to an understanding of what we are in our core.

For instance, a mom may express her love for her children through her cooking. But even if she graduated from the best French culinary institute and can create fantastic meals, it's not what she is that's going to truly serve her children. The secret ingredient in what makes that meal extra special is not the dexterity with which she adds spices to the meal. It's in knowing who she is, that she is a divine being, that she has the great blessing and opportunity to really love her children. It's in understanding who she is that makes the meal extraordinary.

When we realize who we are, and when we realize that we are infused with the spirit and love of our Heavenly Parent, we start moving with our hearts and serving with our hearts. When my father said, "You must serve with who you are, not what you know, not what you do," that's what he was saying. You must serve people with your heart, with the inner core of who you are. Then the meal prepared by this mother will be the most extraordinary in that not only will it satisfy the taste buds but it will comfort the soul. We call it comfort food because people can feel the love that went into making the food.

The mother isn't doing it because she has to or because she knows how. She is doing it from her heart, understanding who she is and understanding who her children are. It's that love, that heart-infused love that is so satisfying and so comforting to our children.

It's interesting to note that Kabala, a mystical teaching in Judaism, teaches that at some point in the beginning of the universe there was something called the Holy, with a capital H. But one day this Holy was broken down into tiny pieces and dispersed throughout the universe. These tiny pieces of the Holy, the tiny sparks, if you will, dispersed throughout the universe, exist in everything and everyone. The God-spark, or these tiny little pieces that used to form this gigantic Holy, exist in each and every one of us and in everything in our universe.

The Kaballists are saying that we have within us this divine spark, this divine fragment of what used to be understood as the Holy -- or in our understanding, God. So we are an extension of the divine. Everything that we do, if we truly understand who we are, should be divine and should be extraordinary, sparkling and beautiful.

When I meditate on how we should live for the sake of others, I remember that when we truly love somebody, what we are doing is constantly giving thanks as we go about our daily business. When I was a little girl, our grandmother lived together with us in our home. She was a very devout woman. She started her day always with a cold shower condition. She would walk around the property 7 or 21 or 40 times, always a providential number. She would constantly be murmuring something, always articulating something.

Once, being the curious little girl that I was, I said to my grandmother, "What are you mumbling? Why do you walk around, almost like a crazy woman, mumbling to the universe? What are you saying?" She told me, "If you live your life and you're grateful for everything that God has given you, you will find yourself at my age walking around your house, murmuring the things that I do."

She said, "What I'm mumbling is thanksgiving," or what she called "little blessings." She said, "When I look at you, I thank God for giving me such a wonderful granddaughter. When I look at the blue sky, I thank God for giving me this blue sky. When I see this house that protects us from the elements, I thank God for providing such a house and a room where I can live. Everything in the universe is something prepared by very special hands, by the hands of people that we love, and by the mysterious hand of God, always taking care of us, always loving us."

My grandmother said, "It doesn't matter whether it's prayer time or not. A prayer time is really when we utter words to develop a relationship with God." She said that when you give thanks, when you give little blessings, thankful words for having such a wonderful husband or wife, or wonderful children, or wonderful food to eat, what you are doing is acknowledging the divine in something else, whether it's a thing or a human being. When you articulate thanks, little blessings that you throw to each other, you're acknowledging the universe as something that belongs to God, connected to God, and something that works together with you in harmony to make you what you are.

I've thought about my grandmother from time to time. When I first got to college and met a lot of people from different faith backgrounds, I noticed that quite a few Indian students had a special greeting, "Namaste." I asked what that meant, and they said, "It literally translates to 'I see the divine spark within you.'" That's how the Indian people greet each other, just like the way Hawaiians say, "Aloha," and tell you that they love you. The way that people from India greet one another is by saying, "I see the divine spark within you." It's a blessing of sorts. You are blessing the divine in the other person, recognizing that person as that divine human being.

When we acknowledge somebody as that divine being, when we greet each other, "I see the divine spark within you," we decide to acknowledge the divine in the other person. In so doing, we are serving the other person because we are acknowledging who that person is and how important each and every person is in our life.

As a parent I find myself sending little blessings: "Thank you, God, for such a wonderful son. Thank you for such a wonderful daughter. Thank you for such a wonderful daughter-in-law," and so on. I find myself wanting to thank people and throw blessings to people that I have difficulty with. We have people we love and people we have a hard time with, right? But the incredible thing about giving people thanksgiving and articulating those blessings is that it really helps us to serve them, starting from our hearts, starting from the place that is important.

Many times when I had a problem with different siblings while growing up, my grandmother encouraged me, "Throw them a little blessing. Throw them a little thanksgiving. Your younger sister might give you a tough time, but because she gives you a tough time, it's making you into a better person, a bigger person. It's giving you a bigger heart. It's allowing you to respond to her in a more mature way and not in a vitriolic way. It's teaching you how to take a breath before you attack. And better yet, take a breath and love."

My grandmother used to say, "Repeat after me: I am grateful for my younger sister." So I would begrudgingly mutter, "I … am … grate…ful. But she grates me like a knife!" Then my grandmother would say, "Finish your sentence." Then I would mutter, "I am grateful for my younger sister." Then she would say, "Repeat after me: She is a beautiful child of God." Then I would look at my grandmother, "She's a monster! She was not beautiful to me today. She was an absolute horror." But my grandmother would say to me, "Repeat after me: She is a beautiful child of God."

So I labored through the second sentence, "She's a beautiful … ummmm." Then my grandmother said, "Repeat after me: I love my sister for helping me make me what I am.'" So I begrudgingly said those words. She made me repeat those three sentences over and over again.

Perhaps I got lost in the murmuring or in trying to finish my sentence, but though I started off very angry, when offering thanksgiving or throwing my blessings to my younger sister that gave me a lot of grief, I realized that because she gave me a lot of grief, it allowed me an opportunity to offer something back, to serve her with my love, honor her with my love. In so doing, I could realize that I was being healed in the process. That was really a magical moment for me.

When we are little, we go through different struggles. As little children perhaps we can't communicate with our parents. Perhaps you were born in America to Japanese parents and your mother is not the most affectionate type of person. Maybe in your family the mother is the military genius and the father is the soft one. Perhaps you are yearning for that motherly touch that never comes your way. You want to be angry, but you really can't be, because even if you got angry in English, your mother would not understand you, so you're stuck.

What do you do in a situation like this? How do you communicate with a parent whom you cannot have a conversation with, who exists in a different world? How do you learn to love this person, to serve this person by practicing "living for the sake of others"?

That's when offering thanksgiving or little blessings becomes incredibly important, when you start realizing that the difficulty you're faced with is an opportunity to do something. It's usually when we're pushed to a crisis point that we actually do something about it. When we're extremely angry, ready to erupt, that's the moment of encounter when we have a considerable opportunity to acknowledge the divine in the other person.

As frustrated as we might be because we have a mother who cannot speak our language -- and I mean many kinds of love language, not just the spoken language -- this is an opportunity for us to serve this person by offering our thanks, offering thanks that we have the chance to somehow relate to this divine spark of a person. It's within our hand to make that magic happen. It's within our hands to acknowledge the divine in the other person.

Instead of castigating her as a worthless person who can't even speak our language, she becomes the reason why we grow deeper in our love, why we become stronger in our faith, why we become courageous in the arena of love and take the first step in loving the mother, the parents.

Many times our True Parents were traveling all around the world and were rarely home. Growing up in a huge family, we were raised by many nannies. Before I came to the United States at age eight, I had eight different nannies. Can you imagine? Just when you're getting comfortable with one nanny, you get another. Trusting becomes incredibly difficult. How do you trust someone and give yourself to someone; how do you live for the sake of others? If you're really living for the sake of others, you're entrusting your heart to them, and they can do whatever they want with your poor vulnerable heart.

This is something all of my siblings and I have had to deal with all our lives. When we contemplate the word service and how we're going to live our lives for the sake of others, we ask ourselves, "How do we apply this in our daily lives?" Maybe we open a door for someone, but how do we really apply this philosophy by understanding what it means in ordinary existence?

Just as my grandmother reminded us that articulating blessing is important, my mother used to say, "You have to move your focus from the superficial to the essential things in life." Whenever she says this, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a prestigious doctor who runs one of the biggest hospitals in Korea. He's seen a lot of people get sick, a lot of people get better, and a lot of people pass away. He told me, "I did not believe in God when I started my medical profession. I thought that as long as I honed my craft and applied what I know that I could be a person who really serves the world. I never really had an understanding of what God is."

But he told me that in the years that he started working in the emergency room, later becoming a resident physician, and finally the one who runs the hospital, his experiences took him from being an atheist to being a devout Christian. He said that these patients are from diverse backgrounds and religious traditions. Many of them are atheists, agnostics, or communists. Others are fervent Christians or Buddhists. He has treated people from all walks of life. He told me that by dealing with all these sick patients he realized that there was a thread that ties every patient he has treated.

He said, "It's amazing how my job is to cure people, but when I dealt with my patients clinically, medically, I realized the only thing I was doing was curing the illness. When I understood that the purpose of my profession was only to heal sickness, I realized I needed something more than my know-how as a doctor. I realized that in order to heal someone I had to tap into an understanding of what a soul is."

He said that it is amazing how it doesn't matter where someone is from -- it's universal that every human being has a capacity for, and desires to have, a spiritual experience, which can be found in the soul. There are many names over the centuries in different religions, such as atman, or Rah. The Seneca called it the "orenda," and the great Christian mystic Meister Eckhart called it the God seed, but the soul is where human beings find their meaning, their value, and understanding.

As a doctor he realized that the language of the soul is meaning. When you are confronted with illness, it pushes you to a crisis point forcing you to evaluate what is superficial and what is essential. He has treated a lot of people who superficially were powerful and had everything they needed, but when they were pushed to the crisis point by illness, they had to focus on the essential, on the meaning and value of life, on what is important in life.

A person who is perhaps driven by money and career but suddenly is pushed to a crisis point by a diagnosis of colon cancer realizes that the most essential thing is life, is breathing the next day, is telling the people in his or her life, "I love you." By going through an illness, these people rediscover the souls that they have lost along the way. They rediscover the meaning of their lives.

This doctor went on to tell me that he saw himself trying to cure the illness, but he didn't realize that the meaning of his true vocation was to heal. He said the shamans and medicine men of olden times didn't concentrate on treating the corporal body, but were interested in treating the body holistically. Only recently with the advent of modern medicine do we have a need or push to cure, but we have forgotten what it means to heal.

He told me that a lot of these shamans or medicine men would refer to illness as a "soul loss." For them, illness meant a loss of direction, of purpose, of mystery and awe. So when they treated an illness, they were not just treating the body but also the heart. In dealing with many terminally ill patients, this doctor realized how incredibly important that is and how incredibly powerful it is to develop trust with patients so they understand that the doctor is there to help heal and accept in their soul that that's what they want.

Many people who are looking for meaning in their lives -- including me, when I was young -- think they have to accomplish many things, and then they'll understand what they're all about. I didn't realize something that this doctor realized through his five decades in medicine. He said that finding meaning in our lives begins with seeing things differently. It starts with looking in a different way at what we are so used to. Many times, the doctor said, finding that understanding in the soul does not mean that we have to change our lifestyle or that we have to live differently. It's a call for us to look at the things that we take for granted in a different way.

If we have lost our direction or purpose, or have lost the mystery and awe of breathing every day and living with our Heavenly Parent and here together with our True Parents, it's because we have lost touch with our souls, and we have lost touch in knowing how to articulate this language of the soul by realizing that there is a very special meaning in each and every one of our lives. We have a special destiny. We were put here on earth to exercise true love, to have a chance at serving other people by acknowledging the divine within them, and having a relationship that allows us to be grateful, that allows us to articulate thanksgiving and give blessings because at the end of the day we know who we are and we know how special each and every one of us is.

In Exodus the Bible says, "Build altars where I have reminded you who I am, and I will come and bless you there." This passage is God telling us to remember and be mindful of the blessings that we receive the minute we decide to offer blessings to life again.

When God asks us to remember, when God asks us to remind ourselves, it is a call to be grateful, to articulate our thanksgiving and our blessings in that moment during the week when we can have some special time. Perhaps we are so busy that we cannot set aside time to pray. But we can always be thankful and we can always offer blessings to those we love and to those we have difficulty with, so that we understand ourselves to be part of this incredible family, this one family of God. Despite where we come from, despite the different understandings that we may have, despite the difficulties we may have to go through, we are really never alone because no matter where we are in life, that divine spark, or the God-spark that Kabala talks about, or the understanding that we are divine, eternal children of God that our True Parents talk about, is in each and every one of us. We are never alone because God is with us each and every step of the way.

Even in moments when we feel that there is nothing but silence all around us, sometimes it just takes a whole new way of seeing that silence. You realize that what you might once have considered an oppressive silence can be transformed into something like beautiful silence, an occasion for you to listen to the meaning of your life that your soul is conveying to you, to listen to the melodies of the universe that run through each one of us.

Despite where we are in life, life is a journey; life is a process. Every obstacle, every difficulty, every bit of suffering that we meet along the way is just an added spice that will make the end meal that much richer and that much more satisfying.

I share this in remembrance of my father and mother and my grandmother, who have shared with me these loving words, "Serve people with who you are, not what you know, not what you do. Give thanks. Offer blessings to people you love, and offer blessings to people that you have a tough time with. When you articulate these blessings, you will realize that you are becoming a deeper, richer, and more understanding person."

As my mother says, "Concentrate on the essentials of life. Move from the superficial to the essential, to what is really important." Well, God has given me a healthy body. God has given me this day, another Sunday when the Lovin' Life team has an opportunity to serve all of you with our hearts, with who we are, with our offerings of thanksgiving and blessing, and in wanting to honor what is essential in all of you -- and that is that you are divine beings, and beautiful, special, precious children of our Heavenly Parent.

Brothers and sisters, on this beautiful Sunday morning, remember who you are. Have a great day and a great week. Thank you. 

Commencement Gala for Graduating Class of 2010

In Jin Moon
May 19, 2010

Come celebrate the graduating classes of 2010 at the Commencement Gala June 4th!

If you are graduating high school, college, grad school, STF or UTS, celebrate the end of the year with your friends and family of the community. We are providing a buffet dinner, music, entertainment, and dancing! The keynote speaker is our Senior Pastor In Jin Moon who will be giving congratulatory remarks and acknowledgement to all graduates.

Doors open at 6 pm in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center. This event is black tie optional, and tickets are sold online by registering below. Ticket prices are $30 for young adults and graduates, $25 for high school students (not graduates) seated in the balcony, and $50 per parent. Priority seating will be given to Graduates, and then it's first come first serve!

Online registration cuts off on Wednesday June 2nd.

Register now, because tickets at the door are $50 and are going fast! 

Father went to Sin City

In Jin Moon
May 16, 2010
Lovin' Life Ministries

On the morning of May 16, 2010, Rev. In Jin Moon reminded the Lovin' Life Ministries congregation that we are truly the lucky ones. She reflected on articles written by the psychologist Richard Wiseman, who did research on the perception each of us has on our own luck. It was found that a person's luck tended to come from his or her open-mindedness, flexibility in how a goal can be accomplished, fearlessness -- reminding oneself of the big picture, and seeing each opportunity as something positive. Rev. In Jin Moon shared that we need to start believing in how lucky we are so that a feeling of gratitude can move our hearts together with God and we can have true success in our lives.

Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone this morning? We missed you on Mother's Day weekend. Did all of you remember to wish your mother a Happy Mother's Day? Wonderful.

We're delighted to be back here in New York. As you've heard, our True Parents were in Las Vegas, and we had a great celebration together with them there, celebrating the coronation and the 50th wedding anniversary, together with the Legacy of Peace ceremony. So it was an all-inclusive, one-package, three-event deal. The members who assisted and attended the event, I think, came away feeling very inspired because Father really poured out his heart, not sticking to the text but speaking extemporaneously for over three hours. He shared a lot of love with all the members there. The dignitaries who came were totally knocked out; many of them said to me, "Although your father is 90-plus years of age, he struts around on stage like a 20-something. He can chastise us, he can implore us, and he can encourage us just like a very youthful man."

As I was watching this, I could not but feel that this is a man who has lived his life for God and for providence, but he really loves his American children. When he comes here, he's not always in the best of moods, but usually by the time he leaves, we send him back feeling very good. The last time I was in Korea, my siblings said to me, "What did you do to Father? He left Korea not so happy, but he came back looking 10 years younger." I said, "Well, maybe the American people, the American brothers and sisters, could make him feel how much we love our True Father and Mother." So, thank you.

Every time our True Father gives us the go-ahead or the direction for such and such an event, he doesn't give us much time. We had a week or two at the most to prepare the event, but more than 1,200 people showed up. I was thinking about all the different Legacy of Peace events that Father initiated, kicking them off at the United Nations, which is the symbol of unity and peace. Father went on to Washington, D.C., Manhattan, Las Vegas, and Hawaii before he went back to Korea.

Then he came back to Las Vegas again to do this triple bonanza event there, celebrating the coronation, the 50th wedding anniversary, and the Legacy of Peace, symbolizing eternal life and resurrection. When I was looking back at the way the Legacy of Peace tour unfolded, I realized that what seemed almost haphazard in Father picking Washington, New York, Las Vegas, and Hawaii all seemed to fall into place. March 18th was the first Legacy of Peace event, truly encouraging all of us to understand fully the ascension or the Seunghwa ceremony in the proper light, that the transitional moment back into the embrace of our Heavenly Father is really a day of celebration and gratitude. Father kicked that off at the United Nations, so we started the Legacy of Peace tour on the firm foundation of unity and peace.

Then Father went on to Washington, D.C. I've always thought that the name of this nation's capital is very interesting. The ton in Washington usually means "the town of," plus washing. Town of washing. I thought, how interesting that Father wanted to go to Washington with the spirit of cleansing and washing the American people and America to prepare all of us for a new understanding of what holy ascension is all about.

Then he went on to New York. For those of you who understand a little bit of Korean, many times Koreans who speak some English incorporate a few English words like new or good when they have conversations in Korean. But york in Korean means curse. If you really think about it, what Father is asking the New Yorkers to think about is to ask ourselves the very question, "Are we going to be the new curse of humanity? Or are we going to be the new 'yolk,'" like the yolk of an egg, which is the principal substance of an egg. It's the core of the egg; it's what becomes a chick. So is New York going to be the place where we will transmit the new curse to humanity? Or is this city going to be a place where we share with the world the principal substance, the breaking news, that our True Parents are here? That's the question we should ask ourselves as New Yorkers.

Then Father went on to Las Vegas, known as Sin City. Father has been challenging us to see if we can truly inject a bit of heaven into this sin city and turn it into a shining city on a hill. Next he went to Hawaii, a place that for me is like a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Hawaiians all address each other with "Aloha," and I just found out on this last trip that aloha means "I love you." So you greet everybody with, "I love you."

I learned that Hawaiians don't really have a word for good-bye. I thought how appropriate it was for Father to end this leg of the Legacy of Peace tour in Hawaii. When we send our loved ones back to the embrace of our Heavenly Parent, we're not saying, "Good-bye." In the tradition of the Hawaiians, what we are saying is, "Until we meet again."

Hawaii was the place where Father said, "Good-bye," and left America for Korea. But I understood it as "Until we meet again." And meet again we did, last week in Las Vegas. I felt that Father was cleansing and preparing all of us to have a new understanding of what our transition into eternal life is all about, especially in light of the fact that the Korean people are in mourning. Father brought it all back home in that last weekend when he celebrated the coronation, the wedding anniversary, and the Legacy of Peace, reminding us that we are in good hands and that our Heavenly Parent is always with us.

It was uniquely interesting that we found ourselves back in this city known as Sin City, where lots of people come to try their luck, to see if they're lucky or not. You meet people from Moscow, Copenhagen, Japan, Korea, from all over the world that come to check if they are the lucky ones. But if we really think about it, who are the luckiest people? (Audience response: "We are.") Absolutely.

For those of us here, there's no need to test our luck. We are already jackpot winners in that we are living when our True Parents are here. We know that we are the eternal sons and daughters of God, and we know that we have this opportunity called life -- the chance to substantiate an ideal family and to experience what parental heart is all about. We are the luckiest people on earth.

I was reading some articles recently by the psychologist Richard Wiseman, author of a book called The Luck Factor. He has spent over 10 years researching people's perception of their luck. He learned through his studies that there are certain attributes or characteristics that he could identify in people who believed and articulated that they were lucky. The Gospel of Mark 11:23 tells us, "You shall have what you say." This passage reminds us the power of the spoken word.

Dr. Wiseman explained what he means by the characteristics that define what a lucky person is all about. He noticed that people who believed and articulated that they were lucky tended to be open-minded, always ready for fortuitous encounters. Because they were open-minded, they tended to be "people" people, meaning they liked the company of people, had large networks of friends and acquaintances, and were easy-going.

He noticed that these people, regardless of what kind of encounter they might experience, somehow managed to turn that encounter into a lucky break. He did an experiment in which he provided the same opportunities to two different people. He threw a coin on the street and asked these two people to walk down the street to a café, where he planted a businessman. The person that articulated and believed he was unlucky walked down the sidewalk and totally missed the coin that was right in front of him. Upon entering the café, instead of looking around, being open-minded, watching, maybe checking to see how God could work in his life, this person just sat down and started drinking coffee, missing the possible encounter with the planted businessman, who might have offered a business deal or a great partnership.

But the person who articulated that he was lucky walked down the very same street, found the coin, and was grateful for the chance to find such a gift. And with a grateful heart, he entered the café, where he saw this businessman, decided to engage him in conversation, and ended up with a great new business venture.

The psychologist concluded that with the same opportunity provided to two different people, a person's perception of what luck meant in life determines the outcome -- the good or the unfortunate. He went on to say that lucky people, or people who articulated that they were lucky, are not just open-minded but tend to be very flexible people, allowing God to work mysteriously in their lives. They tend to give life the opportunity. Both kinds of people may have defined goals. For instance, someone may want to be a top surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. A flexible person would approach that goal in a slightly different way. He might think, "I would like to be a top-notch doctor, providing the best service for my patients." By being flexible and allowing life to play a part in where he would end up, that person may wind up going to India, learning the language and culture, and meeting a beautiful wife.

What Dr. Wiseman discovered is that we are the ones who make life difficult, rigid, or confining because although we set goals for ourselves that may be good goals, we don't always know that there are many ways to get there. That knowledge is what gives us true fulfillment. We could slave away, wanting to be the top surgeon at Mayo Clinic, but the question we have to ask is, "Is that life fulfilling? Would I be happy there?" Maybe or maybe not. If the answer is "maybe not," it's perhaps because we didn't exercise our own creativity to consider different ways of getting there. Or maybe we weren't flexible enough to allow God to work mysteriously in our lives, unlike the person who was mysteriously led to India and found an eternal partner there.

Another characteristic that Dr. Wiseman noted in people who tend to articulate that they are very lucky is they tend to have the big picture in life, not getting lost in little details, or not getting so lost in details that they try too hard or maybe try so desperately that they end up missing the big picture.

When we're parents taking care of our children, many times we're so bogged down by the details. "I have to get the shopping done. I have to pick up my child by 5:00 o'clock. I have to schedule the dental appointments." We get lost in the shuffle of all the little things that we have to do. We can feel totally worn out, totally frayed, totally lost. But keeping that big picture in mind of why are we doing the little things that we do, we can think, "Maybe I can be 10 minutes late. Maybe I won't make it there by 5:00. Maybe I'm trying too hard, driving 80 miles an hour to get to the appointment on time. Maybe I can take it a little bit slower, a little bit safer, with a little more breathing room, with more gratitude because I am doing this for the child who has been placed in my care. How incredibly lucky I am."

From time to time, I need to remind myself about this point of keeping the big picture in mind because, of course, my job as a mother of five never stops, regardless of whether I'm working here at the Manhattan Center or at HSA. These children have needs. They need to be taken care of. My mind is always aware of what they need; many times when I cannot meet all of their needs, I get very desperate because I wish I could be there for them.

But Heavenly Father, or my mother's voice in the background, tells me, "Let things pass. The little details of life that bog you down -- let them pass. Give yourself that 10 minutes. Give yourself that breathing room. You are not a superwoman. That's okay. You are trying your best. Maybe if you're 10 minutes late, it might be an opportunity for your child to discover something great about him or herself. Maybe the child might realize, 'I don't need my Omma (mother) to do what I need to do.' Maybe it will give that child an opportunity to rise to the challenge, to maybe help me meet their needs."

Last Sunday after Service I was sharing lunch with some of my children. The others were spending time with their friends, but my husband and I and my eldest son and his wife Krista were sharing sandwiches. We were in an animated conversation about how Preston's new work is going, what's it like working for UBS, and he was excited to bring us up to date.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move on the floor. At first when you see something shifting on the floor, you really don't want to look, but you have to, anyway. I'm usually not afraid of bugs, but one bug in particular I really do not like, Mr. Cockroach. This cockroach was enormous. It looked like a little boat moving across the floor. I pointed my finger without saying a word, and everyone looked at me, then at my finger. They all saw Mr. Cockroach and how humongo-bongo he was. After I regained my composure, I screamed, "Mr. Cockroach!"

At moments like that, what I envision is one of those "Calgon moments" from advertisements for bath powder in the early 1980s. The only way this crazed-out mother who looks like she survived the atomic bomb can get peace and calm is to take her Calgon bath. The minute she sinks into the tub, visions of paradise would appear, and she would feel secure and calm.

I grew up with seven brothers I could lean on, and if I screamed, my brothers would come to my rescue. Then I could have my Calgon moment of peace and calm because they would take care of Mr. Cockroach. But maybe because I was so spoiled by my brothers' rescues, I was blessed to a man who is equally scared of Mr. Cockroach. Some of our most vehement bickering occurred because of a cockroach. I would stop and point and scream, and he would stop and look and run away. I could not understand how a man could run away from a cockroach. I had seven brothers who would come to my rescue every time, but I had been given to a man who runs away.

The same thing occurred again. I pointed and screamed, and my husband got up, screamed, and ran away. Then I looked toward my son, Preston, and screamed, "Mr. Cockroach! Then he squealed and got up on the windowsill, clinging to the sill as if he were a curtain. I was horrified that not only was I not rescued by my husband, but my eldest son was standing on the windowsill. All these things were going through my mind: "What is wrong with my husband? What is wrong with my eldest son? These two were born in the year of the tiger. Why are they afraid of Mr. Cockroach?"

Usually after this bickering over a cockroach, I was the one who conked it on the head and disposed of it in the toilet. I was thinking, "Here I go again." Then out of the blue my daughter-in-law stood up, and mentally I heard heroic music in the background. Then she ran to the wastebasket, strode to the cockroach, and boom! She took care of Mr. Cockroach like the cockroach terminator. I was amazed and thought, "God works in mysterious ways!" Here I was, being so consumed by the details, over the fact that every time I scream "Mr. Cockroach," my husband runs away. But now I get the big picture. Heavenly Father married me to a man who's afraid of a cockroach, but he gave me a terminator of a daughter-in-law. I said, "Thank you, Heavenly Father. The power of the feminine strikes again."

I saw the big picture. Many times the little details leave us confused and frustrated. But when we can step back and let God work his mysterious magic in our lives, we get the big picture, and we realize it's a darned good one. I'm really proud of my cockroach terminator. Now I know who to call the next time I scream.

But here we are talking about the luck factor. Another characteristic that Dr. Wiseman saw in people who believe that they are lucky is that they tend to be fearless, not afraid of new encounters, new environments, or new opportunities. In fact, whenever something different is placed in the view of people who perceive themselves to be lucky, what they do is respond with a yes as opposed to a no. "Yes, let me try that. Let me take a look at that," instead of, "No, I'm afraid. No, I need to work out my anxiety. No, I need to work out my apprehension."

This open-mindedness, this flexibility, and this fearlessness -- reminding oneself of the big picture, that every new opportunity could yield something wonderful, seeing each opportunity as something positive -- are things that Dr. Wiseman recognized. Also he recognized that lucky people tend not to accept failure in and of itself, meaning that these people see little failures as just part of a work in progress toward their goal.

If you speak to successful businessmen on Wall Street, the majority of them will tell you that they had businesses that failed at some point. They learned their greatest lessons in business by failing, by learning what not to do again, by learning that there might be better options, better avenues. By making mistakes, you learn that maybe you can do it another way.

These kinds of people, when sitting at a game table in Las Vegas, even though they might be losing at the moment, still have the feeling of positivity, saying to themselves, "I'm just going through a losing streak before I hit the big one." With that positive thinking, they would always win. Or else they would think, "This table is not working for me. Let me go to the next table." These people are constantly moving around, not getting bogged down, not being rigid, allowing different opportunities to work in their lives, allowing different ways for God to work in their lives, and being fearless in wanting to try out something new. When they stumble along the way, they see it as a way of reaching their goals.

When babies are taking their first steps, they don't have a concept of failure. Even though they fall, they get up and try again. They don't see it as having failed and that's the end of it. They see it as, "I just have to try again until I take a couple of steps and cross the room." These are the characteristics that Dr. Wiseman noted about people who think of themselves as lucky. When I read his work, the feeling I got about the people he studied in his experiments was that the lucky people tended to be very grateful about their lives, about the things they had, about the experiences they went through. For them, everything was a glass half full as opposed to a glass half empty.

When our True Parents are encouraging us to be gratified in our gratitude, what they are reminding us to do is to remember that we are the lucky people. Not only should we listen to our True Parents telling us that we are lucky people, but we need to start believing in how lucky we are. Even more, just as the Scripture says that you will have what you say, when we tell ourselves that we are the most blessed, the most loved, that's what we become. Again, the power of the spoken word determines what kind of people we are, how we perceive our world, and what we perceive our own luck to be.

As a mother raising five kids and being a sister in a family of 14 siblings, I know the power of the spoken word. As I strove to have a good relationship with my parents, my siblings, my children, one thing I noticed was that when you are working toward a good relationship, you have to think about creating a good marinade. What I mean by that is, you can have the greatest piece of meat, like filet mignon, but if you stick it in a really lousy marinade, it is not going to taste very good.

Interestingly, a marinade determines the flavor of the meat. In a soy sauce marinade, the meat will taste like teriyaki steak. You put that fine piece of meat in a sauce with habanera pepper, and it is going to taste hot. You put that piece of meat in a ginger sauce, and it's going to have a nice zing to it when you're ready to cook it.

When I say that in order to have a good relationship we have to create a good marinade, I mean that the power of the spoken word is like a good marinade in which we put a choice piece of meat. In a family, the power of the spoken word -- how the parents encourage each other verbally, how their love is articulated and transmitted to the kids -- is what creates a marinade for our family. The kind of words that are spoken determines what the final product is going to taste like.

If that marinade is created out of bitterness, with people hating each other, that's what the steak is going to taste like. But if that marinade of the words expressed is that of love, inspiration, encouragement, and empowerment, that is the steak that you will taste.

The Bible also instructs us in Zechariah 10:23 [actually Zechariah 2:10], encouraging us to sing and rejoice. I thought this passage was very interesting because it calls forth all the sisters, mothers, and daughters, asking the feminine to "Sing and rejoice, O daughters of Zion, for I am coming and I will dwell in your midst." God is asking all the women, especially daughters who will be the future mothers, who will be responsible for creating this good marinade, to sing and rejoice. God is reminding the good mothers not to degenerate into feelings of victimization in a family setting, not be the ones gossiping, not be the ones complaining, not be the ones saying, "Woe is me."

God is asking the daughters of Zion to be agents of change, to be those people who are going to create the great marinade for a great relationship in the family. God is asking the daughters of Zion, the future mothers and sisters, to rejoice and to sing, to be so joyful that you express yourself creatively, artistically, and beautifully because God is coming to dwell in your midst. When we can be responsible to create this great marinade, we will be the agents of change who will create a great relationship. And when you have that great relationship, that is the place where God wants to be.

My father gave a lovely speech on September 11th, 1977, about the importance of heart, the importance of getting the heart to move in our lives. He said something that to me is very poignant. He said that no matter how lonely you might have felt, once the heart of God starts moving, you will be filled, the universe will be filled, and you will lack for nothing.

Then how do we go about moving this heart of God? How do we get our heart to move in unison with God? The answer is very simple. It starts with a very important word -- gratitude. Let's recognize how thankful we should be, having God as our Heavenly Parent, being his children, having the opportunity to create an ideal family, to graft onto the original olive tree, to be living at the same time as our True Parents, and how we will be the envy of millions who have come before us and millions who will come after us.

If we realize how incredible our lives are and we see the big picture, we see where God wants to go with us, and we know that every one of us is so important to God and to the providence, then a feeling of gratitude moves our heart together with God. When the heart starts moving, then we are filled, and we lack for nothing. We do not see the cup as half empty. We lack for nothing, for we see the cup as half full.

It's this gratitude that will turn us into lucky people who will be open-minded, flexible, big-minded, fearless, not afraid of failure. This will guarantee our success in life. Once you believe you are lucky, once you know how important and how special you are, then you will do everything that you need to do to become that special someone, to become God's eternal son or daughter.

So brothers and sisters, we are living in an incredible time. You are all jackpot winners, and you are the luckiest people. So have a lucky Sunday, have a lucky week, and God bless.

Notes:

Mark, chapter 11

1: And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Beth'phage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

2: and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it.

3: If any one says to you, `Why are you doing this?' say, `The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.'"

4: And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door out in the open street; and they untied it.

5: And those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?"

6: And they told them what Jesus had said; and they let them go.

7: And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it.

8: And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.

9: And those who went before and those who followed cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

10: Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!"

11: And he entered Jerusalem, and went into the temple; and when he had looked round at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

12: On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

13: And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

14: And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.

15: And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons;

16: and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple.

17: And he taught, and said to them, "Is it not written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."

18: And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.

19: And when evening came they went out of the city.

20: As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

21: And Peter remembered and said to him, "Master, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered."

22: And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.

23: Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

24: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

25: And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

27: And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

28: and they said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?"

29: Jesus said to them, "I will ask you a question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

30: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me."

31: And they argued with one another, "If we say, `From heaven,' he will say, `Why then did you not believe him?'

32: But shall we say, `From men'?" -- they were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet.

33: So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

Zechariah, chapter 2

1: And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand!

2: Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length."

3: And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him,

4: and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, `Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle in it.

5: For I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the LORD, and I will be the glory within her.'"

6: Ho! ho! Flee from the land of the north, says the LORD; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, says the LORD.

7: Ho! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.

8: For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:

9: "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.

10: Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.

11: And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

12: And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."

13: Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Zechariah, chapter 10

1: Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain,
from the LORD who makes the storm clouds,
who gives men showers of rain,
to every one the vegetation in the field.

2: For the teraphim utter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
the dreamers tell false dreams,
and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for want of a shepherd.

3: "My anger is hot against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and will make them like his proud steed in battle.

4: Out of them shall come the cornerstone,
out of them the tent peg,
out of them the battle bow,
out of them every ruler.

5: Together they shall be like mighty men in battle,
trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the LORD is with them,
and they shall confound the riders on horses.

6: "I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them;
for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.

7: Then E'phraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and rejoice,
their hearts shall exult in the LORD.

8: "I will signal for them and gather them in,
for I have redeemed them,
and they shall be as many as of old.

9: Though I scattered them among the nations,
yet in far countries they shall remember me,
and with their children they shall live and return.

10: I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
and gather them from Assyria;
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
till there is no room for them.

11: They shall pass through the sea of Egypt,
and the waves of the sea shall be smitten,
and all the depths of the Nile dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.

12: I will make them strong in the LORD
and they shall glory in his name," says the LORD. 

Rev. In Jin Moon's latest album, "Secret Garden," is coming soon!

May 13, 2010

Rev. In Jin Moon's latest album, "Secret Garden", has just been released and is coming soon to the United States!

Recently 5,000 copies have been sold in Japan, with all proceeds going towards Second Generation youth scholarships, assisting youth in Japan to take part in Youth Concerts for World Peace and Ideal Families started by Rev. In Jin Moon over in 1999.

Starting this year proceeds from her album twill also go toward numerous scholarships for youth in the United States.

Since 2005. Rev. In Jin Moon has been creating albums, with Secret Garden being her 5th in counting. With 77 songs written. vocally performed, and produced on this album. Rev. In Jin Moon is sharing her talent and passion in hopes that all proceeds can be given to youth who also want to pursue their dreams.

Keep a look out for 'Secret Garden' which will be sold soon! 

Attack of the WIF-ers

In Jin Moon
May 2, 2010
Lovin' Life Ministries

On the morning of May 2, 2010, Rev. In Jin Moon spoke on how each of us is able to look at ourselves, so that our behaviors, attitudes, and approach to life become hopeful, inspired, and empowered. Rev. Moon introduced what she calls "the attack of the WIF-ers," which is when one goes through a period of thinking they are Worthless, Invisible, and Failures.

With referral to the scripture Proverbs 23:7, "As he thinketh in his heart, so he is," as well as a different translation, "As he thinketh in his heart, so he becomes," Rev. Moon reminds us all that when we can see ourselves through God's eyes and we understand the divinity of ourselves, we can come to know that we're not failures. Because we can logically understand who we are and we can think of ourselves as the children of God who have the attributes that God has, that gives us an incredible foundation to be extraordinary.

Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone? I'm very happy to see you once again. We've been traveling quite a bit, as Dave Hunter mentioned earlier. We had a wonderful Tenth Youth Concert for World Peace and Ideal Families in Japan, and then we went on to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of our True Parents in Korea.

When we got to Korea, one of the things I realized was that the whole country is in mourning. I'm sure you've heard about the 46 sailors who were lost at sea. There was a great deal of speculation as to why their ship broke in half and sank, but it's pretty clear that it was due to a torpedo fired by North Korea. South Korea has been very slow in confirming that it was indeed a North Korean torpedo because for it to confirm this and respond would mean a declaration of war.

Korea is in a very precarious situation. I feel that the presence of our True Parents is so crucial because True Parents are the only ones who have the kind of relationship with the North Korean government that can facilitate a conversation on behalf of the rest of the world and South Korea. Even for peace in Korea, our True Parents are incredibly important. As the story unfolds and as South Korea feels more and more pressured to respond in some way, it will need to seek the help, support, and wisdom of our True Parents so that this will not be the beginning of another war.

Brothers and sisters, we are living in extraordinarily turbulent times. But we are also living in a time when so much can be accomplished if we truly unite with our True Parents and the will of our Heavenly Parent. As I spent time with our True Parents in Korea, seeing the country continuing to mourn day in and day out and watching the ongoing coverage of the families of the sailors who were lost on March 26, I sensed that our True Parents somehow felt that an incident like this would happen. I don't think it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea or coincidence that Father started the Legacy of Peace tour on March 18 here at the United Nations, in a sense preparing the world and Korea to understand death not as a time for grieving and mourning but as a transition time when we can offer up these representatives of Korea back to our Heavenly Parent in the proper way: in celebration, gratitude, and love.

Even though I see True Father as my biological father, he is an extraordinary man in that he has a sixth sense about the way the universe moves, about things that are going to happen and things that might need his preparation. The Legacy of Peace tour was preparing and helping not just our community to understand and honor these great men and women who have accomplished so much in their lifetime but to share the beauty of our tradition with the rest of the world, and Koreans in particular.

I feel it's highly significant that on April 29th, the day when the whole country was in mourning and watching the funeral service for the 46 sailors lost at sea, was the same morning our True Parents were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Life and death, celebration and tears all come together. But our True Parents were right in the middle of it, their presence giving such a sense of security and stability -- not just spiritually but also physically to the country of Korea. We are very lucky to have them in our lives.

Over the last 10 years I've been trying to raise up the Second and Third Generations of Japan to become great men and women of God. As you know, our Japanese movement has been instrumental as the financial backbone of our worldwide community. The First Generation have made incredible sacrifices for the sake of the providence. They have sacrificed everything. Many times I have felt that their children were ignored and left aside.

I thought, just as the First Generation of Japanese members sacrificed themselves and gave so much to help build this worldwide community that we call our own, how wonderful it would be if a member of the True Family could really love and inspire the Second and Third Generations of our movement in return! I do not want these young people to approach life with ingratitude, saying, "We have nothing because our parents sacrificed everything. I have nothing to look forward to." It's important that they understand their parents' sacrifice and then be able to decide on their own to make something of their lives and become great men and women.

A big talent show was organized for True Parents' anniversary, and the First Prize winner was one of the Sun Hak choirs of Japan. These choirs of our Second and Third Generation are something I have supported and nurtured over the years, and there they were in front of our True Parents, performing Korean songs so gloriously and winning First Prize. The Little Angels are considered to be some of the best representatives of Korea artistically in terms of dance and song, and they performed first. Most of their performers are not from our blessed families. Then our own Japanese choir came on stage in beautiful kimonos and sang with all of their hearts. Not only was their performance beautiful heartistically, but musically it was truly unbelievable: Japan and its children were better than the Little Angels. There was no comparison between the two choirs. The Japanese children were luminous, and I was so proud that they won First Prize.

In going to Japan with determination to inspire and raise up great kids artistically, academically, athletically, and spiritually, I approached that responsibility with a mother's heart. I think we mothers struggle with helping our children navigate the battlefield of the mind especially when they enter their teenage years, wanting to experiment, not wanting to delay gratification. How do we parents help our children navigate this time in their lives?

When I'm confronted with this problem with my own children, I refer back to Scripture. It says in Proverbs 23:7 in the King James Version, "As he thinketh in his heart, so he is." A different translation says, "As he thinketh in his heart, so he becomes." The power of the mind, the power to think actually has a creative component to it in that when we think about things, we are actually creating the energy that's going to affect our behavior or our attitude. When we have negative thoughts or have not such pleasant thoughts, that pattern produces negative actions, behavior, and attitude.

On the other hand, when we think positively and when we believe that we are capable of so much more, of becoming incredible human beings, then our positive thinking creates a belief and affects the way we look at ourselves, so that our behaviors, attitudes, and approach to life become hopeful, inspired, and empowered. The way we think is so crucial to how we are and to how we live our lives.

Children at this age deal with what I call the attack of the WIF-ers. I remember being a teenager, going through a period of growth when we think we're Worthless, we're Invisible, we're Failures. This is the WIF that many times Satan uses to get us confused. When we're plagued by this, we feel insignificant and lost many times. Even grown men and women who are still emotionally children feel as if they're worthless and unloved. How many times have we felt that way? I've certainly felt that way. "Nobody loves me." We tell ourselves that we're worthless, and that's why nobody loves us.

One thing I've learned in my life is that if we don't learn to love ourselves, believe in ourselves, and realize that we are unique men and women of God, who will love us? But the minute I start thinking that I am somebody special because I was hand-crafted by God, prepared by God, loved by God and that's why I've been given this opportunity called life, then the feeling of being worthless changes to a feeling of being a winner. We are all winners in that we have been given the ultimate gift of life. It's up to us to decide what we're going to do with our lives.

I think all of us at one point or another in our lives have felt invisible. I certainly did. I grew up in a family where my parents were hardly there; even when they were at home, they only saw the leaders and members. The children felt invisible, like we didn't exist. They were so busy saving the world that we felt like we didn't exist in front of our parents. When we feel invisible, then we feel like we have to make ourselves visible by reaching for extreme measures or seeking materialistic attachments that will somehow make us visible.

What do teenagers dream about when they're engulfed in their teenage years? Usually boys want a hot sports car. Why? Because they love it so much? Yes. Because it's a thrill to have this amazing machine respond to their commands? Perhaps the young man is so intrigued by the mechanics of the car that he is happy and inspired. But when we get down to the real reason the young men want a hot car, it's usually because they would like a lot of beautiful ladies to look at them when they drive past. They want to be visible, and the hot car -- the Benz, the Lamborghini, the BMW -- they want that because it makes them visible.

When young people are trying to figure out who they are and feel they're invisible to the world, they reach for material things like cars, like the huge house with the pool. When a young man wants to be validated by society and appreciated for his success, he usually gets a trophy wife who's beautiful to look at to make the statement "Look how successful I am. A woman like this wants to be my wife. Am I not successful?" Such a man aspires to have a trophy wife because her beauty makes him visible to the world.

But if we realize that we are really the children of God, that we are born with an incredible divine light, we are not invisible at all. In fact, we are all prepared, so visible to our Heavenly Parent. Once we realize how incredibly important each and every one of us is, we glow from within. Instead of feeling invisible, we begin to see ourselves as something incandescent and brilliant that infuses the whole environment with beautiful, sparkling light. That's the beauty of having God in our lives.

When we're going through different periods in our lives, many of us have phases of seeing ourselves as failures: "I'm going to fail; I'm going to make a mistake so I won't even bother to try."

I grew up in a huge family. Often in large families, the older ones are held up as examples for the younger ones so the younger ones can aspire to reach the kind of achievements of their elders. I found myself in that position. My parents would say to my poor younger siblings, "Look at In Jin. She went to Columbia. She went to Harvard. All of you must go to Columbia and Harvard." Can you imagine? No wonder my younger brothers and sisters had a time in their lives when they absolutely hated me. Understandably so.

At the end of the day, my family all want the best for each other. After heated discussion they would break down and say to me, "Father and Mother put you up so high. I could never achieve that. I'm a failure. So I'm not even going to try, and I'm just going to hate you." That was honesty. Whenever I heard that, it made me think, "I'd better try to be invisible for the sake of my siblings." That was a lesson I learned a long time ago: to try to get behind people and not always stand in front.

But here I am every Sunday, before all of you. The approach that I had toward my younger siblings is very much the approach I have to my congregation. When I was preparing early this morning for this sermon, I thought, "Here I am preparing for another Sunday ser-mon. Why is it ser? Like his-story. Why is it not her-story? Why is it not her-mon?" I said to myself, "Today I'm going to prepare a her-mon and I am going to enjoy the fact that I'm a woman. I am going to enjoy the fact that every Sunday I share with my congregation is her-story in the making."

You know, brothers and sisters, as much as my parents said, "Look at In Jin and be like her," I myself felt many times like I was a failure. I could never be what my parents wanted me to be. Then the minute I start thinking negatively, the minute I start thinking I'm a failure, I've already defeated myself because I've invited a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've already told myself I'm going to fail. So when I fail, it's no surprise. I knew I was going to fail, so why did I try?

In my relationship with my younger brothers and sisters, during the time they hated me so much because my parents kept holding me up as an example for them, I felt like no amount of love and care would make the relationship better. So I went through periods when I didn't even try because I knew it wouldn't move this mountain.

The extraordinary thing is, every now and then I would feel, "Why am I not trying? These are the people I love. These are the people I want to live for." So I would work up the courage to reach out and love, and many times I still felt an incredibly cold wall. But when I kept on trying, though I might fail the first time, I would try again. I might fail the second and third time, but when I refused to see my efforts as failures and kept on believing that these small failures were just steps toward a better relationship, the most extraordinary thing happened. Sooner or later we came to a moment when we would both break down, my siblings and I, and we would have some of the most profound and delicious conversations of our lives.

This has been a lesson for me. When I'm feeling like I'm a failure, when I'm feeling like no amount of good effort is going to yield any result, so why bother? That is exactly the time when I should try again. Instead of being so overcome with fear that we keep ourselves in this comfort zone of "I'm a failure, so I'm not going to try," when we bring God into our lives, when we know that our lives have a purpose, that we have a destiny to fulfill, and that each and every one of us is so important to each other, then we realize there's no need to have fear. There is no need to fear failing in the future. In a sense, we become fearless.

When I was working with my second son and daughter to help them become great classical pianists, I came to know that the secret to a child being successful in his or her area of passion involves three things. You need the cooperation of the child, you need the parent to fully support that child in his or her gifts, and you also need a third component, a great teacher.

I've met a lot of parents over the years, and whenever I come across kids who are doing incredibly well, I want to know what makes them so special. When I look into why that child is so awesome, it usually comes down to these three things. It's the child willingly wanting to be great. It's the parents who are going to bend over backward and support that child in his or her gifted area. And the third component is securing the best teacher that you can find.

When I think about our lives of faith, it relates to the example of how you can turn a child into a gifted classical pianist who has the opportunity to perform with some of the best orchestras in the world. When we think about our spiritual lives, we become great men and women of God when we allow the magic of this trinity to work in our lives as well. First and foremost, we have to understand that God is our eternal Heavenly Parent, which means we are his eternal sons and daughters. Even if you have the greatest relationship with God, one on one, why do we still need True Parents?

As gifted as you are and as great a parent as God in heaven is, you still need a living example, somebody who can take you through the application process, help you overcome different obstacles, and help you solve the problems that life puts in your path. We need a great teacher. That's the reason why the world has been waiting for the Anointed One, that great teacher, that great paradigm, that great model who will show us and guide us, who will advise us to be that incredible, gifted son or daughter of God.

When we have God and our True Parents in our lives, then the attack of the WIF-ers becomes something that we can handle. Because we can logically understand who we are and we can think of ourselves as the children of God who have the attributes that God has, that gives us an incredible foundation to be extraordinary. So the Bible says, "As he thinketh in his heart, so he is." Instead of being plagued by negative thoughts, thinking, "I'm worthless. I'm invisible. I'm a failure," the minute we allow this trinity to work in our lives, helping us to become gifted human beings, we realize, no, we are not worthless.

When you see a worthless person through the eyes of God, that person becomes a winner. You take an "invisible" person and you put that person in God's hands, and that invisible person, that inadequate person, that person who thought he or she didn't exist and therefore had to reach for all the materialistic things he or she could possibly get -- a trophy wife, a hot car, a big, big house -- that person becomes not invisible but incandescent in the light and the divinity of God.

Maybe some of us were parent-pleasers, so busy trying to please our parents that every time we were in front of them, we would make ourselves so nervous that we would always make a mistake. In our desperate efforts to please, we taught ourselves to always make a mistake and always see ourselves as failures.

When we see ourselves through the eyes of God and in the embrace of God, we can come to know that we're not failures. When we see that we are not failures and we are not our own design, then we can rid ourselves of the bondage that we keep ourselves in by repeating the self-fulfilling prophecy, "I'm a failure, so I'm not even going to try." Thinking at different times in our lives that we're failures, we're mistaking that for being a work in progress. The minute we invite God into our lives, we become fearless in knowing that we can achieve everything we believe in.

Part of the reason why we wanted to perform "Trooper," the Iron Maiden song I'm sure some of you know, is that it's a song about a battlefield, about dying alone. Most young people, when asked what their greatest fear is, will say, "My biggest fear is dying alone." The wonderful thing about our True Parents' understanding is the knowledge that our own minds tend to be our toughest battlefield and the attack of the WIF-ers is like atrocious little mines that explode every once in a while and make us feel so insignificant, inadequate, and worthless.

Heavenly Father knows that we go through the attack of the WIF-ers. But in order for us to learn how important we are, to ourselves and to each other, he allows us to experience these WIF-ers because when we have felt the depth of the abyss of misery and suffering, it prepares us for that ultimate liberation, making the liberation that much sweeter.

God is counting on all of us to one day grow up and understand how wonderful it is to have God in our lives and to be divine human beings. But God allows us to suffer through and experience these moments of darkness. Mother Teresa herself experienced such darkness. When she passed away, some of her letters and journal entries over the years were made available to the public. Some people who read them were shocked because in some of them she talked about not having any faith at all, about not being able to go on, about feeling worthless. For those of us who look at Mother Teresa as an exemplary woman of God, that image doesn't go together with her writings about darkness, faithlessness, and disbelief.

When I was made aware of her writings I did not think, "How could such a woman write such things?" The realization that I came to was "No wonder she's a great woman of God. Despite having gone through these things, look at what she has done with her life."

So, young people, don't be discouraged. Don't give up hope when you find yourself in a very dark moment in your life. You don't have to be a Goth or an Emo. It's okay to feel the pain. It's okay to experience the darkness. But always remember that God always gives us another day, and there will always be God walking beside us, behind us, and all around us.

Young people fear dying alone on the battlefield of their mind. Some cannot deal with life, so they feel compelled to take their own lives. This is why young people need God in their lives. When you invite God, you realize you're a winner, an incandescent being, and a fearless and courageous son or daughter of God.

When we invite God, we can turn this negative thought process around. When we invite God, this negative thinking is replaced with not just a cold, intellectual, logical understanding of things. Rather, a different understanding comes to pass: an understanding that has love; an understanding that has heart.

The Scripture doesn't say, "As he thinketh, so he is," or "so he becomes." It says, "As he thinketh in his heart, so he is and so he becomes." When we invite God and we understand the divinity of ourselves, we start breathing not just with our minds but with our hearts. And we start living with the understanding that we are unique human beings and that, no matter how difficult life is, God has his way to always be there, right there, in the darkness of the night. When nobody is there, God is always there.

God will never leave us. So even though we are confronted with an insensate clock that ticks on and on through life, we need to take heart and be grateful that we are not alone. Especially with our True Parents educating us and sharing with us the meaning of life and the profundity of these three transitional phases and moments in our lives, with death being a transition into the eternal world, we learn that we don't even have to fear death. We can look forward to it and be thankful for it.

Our True Parents are great teachers in this trinity for each and every one of us that will make us great men and women of God. The only thing we need to do is to start thinking with our hearts. Then we need to start living with our hearts and breathing with our hearts.

Brothers and sisters, we have a great deal to be thankful for, but please keep in your hearts and prayers the 46 sailors lost at sea. Be peaceful and calm in knowing that God has given us these great teachers called our True Parents. Regardless of what the world is going through, regardless of how precarious the situation might be in the two Koreas, our True Parents will guide us through it and help us turn our world into that amazing world of peace and love that we all so dream of.

So have a lovely Sunday and a lovely week. Thank you very much.

Notes:

The Books of Proverbs, chapter 23

1: When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what is before you;

2: and put a knife to your throat
if you are a man given to appetite.

3: Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.

4: Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be wise enough to desist.

5: When your eyes light upon it, it is gone;
for suddenly it takes to itself wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.

6: Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies;

7: for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning.
"Eat and drink!" he says to you;
but his heart is not with you.

8: You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.

9: Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10: Do not remove an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless;

11: for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.

12: Apply your mind to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.

13: Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

14: If you beat him with the rod
you will save his life from Sheol.

15: My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.

16: My soul will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.

17: Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.

18: Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

19: Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your mind in the way.

20: Be not among winebibbers,
or among gluttonous eaters of meat;

21: for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

22: Hearken to your father who begot you,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23: Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

24: The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.

25: Let your father and mother be glad,
let her who bore you rejoice.

26: My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.

27: For a harlot is a deep pit;
an adventuress is a narrow well.

28: She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the faithless among men.

29: Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?

30: Those who tarry long over wine,
those who go to try mixed wine.

31: Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.

32: At the last it bites like a serpent,
and stings like an adder.

33: Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind utter perverse things.

34: You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.

35: "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I will seek another drink."

The Trooper
Iron Maiden
Songwriters: Steve Harris

You take my life but I'll take yours too
You fire your musket but I run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back.

The bugle sounds -- the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As I plunge on into certain death.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhh!
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhh!

The horse he sweats with fear -- we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall.

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We won't live to fight another day.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhh!
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhh!

We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below.

And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhh!
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhh! 

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Entitlement and Kimchi Fried Rice

In Jin Moon
April 18, 2010
Lovin' Life Ministries
Manhattan Center, New York

On the morning of April 18, 2010, Rev. In Jin Moon spoke to Lovin' Life Ministries' congregants on the feeling of entitlement, which can arise within a group of people and become the greatest detriment to living for the sake of others. When we're thinking of our worth in terms of how we are titled by others -- such as in how our positions are seen or our possessions are understood -- then what happens is that we pollute our attitudes about life. Through the example of the personal story of "Two Tickets to Boston," as well as the understanding of our roles as leaders and parents, Rev. Moon stressed the importance of living a life of gratitude each day at a time, thinking "How can I give to others, and leave something worthy behind for future generations."

Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone this morning? I missed you all. But we were so delighted to have our True Parents here with us, and they've been so busy with the Legacy of Hope tour that they kicked off on March 18 at the United Nations, truly honoring those great men and women who have gone before us and crossed over into the eternal life.

Because they are True Parents and because they want to teach all of us how to really live our lives, living for the sake of others, it's truly a wonderful opportunity for us to know and be comforted that even in death we can look forward to going back into the embrace of our Heavenly Parent. We do not need to be afraid; instead of being grief-stricken that our loved ones have departed and are no longer here with us physically, we can truly approach their death as a beginning of a whole new life and celebrate their journey back home.

We've been on the road the last two weeks, and we had a great kick-off in Las Vegas to celebrate the first anniversary of Lovin' Life Ministries. I want to thank all of you for making it what it is today. Not only did we last for a whole year, but having our True Parents with us in Las Vegas to kick off the second year was an auspicious sign. For those of us who could spend these precious moments with our True Parents in Las Vegas, it was a meaningful Easter Sunday. I believe that all who attended the Easter Service, as well as the Legacy of Hope event together with our True Parents, felt energized, felt loved, and felt empowered about who they are and how they should live their lives.

Then last week we were in Hawaii together with our True Parents. How incredibly wonderful it was to send our True Parents back to Korea from such a beautiful island! Being in New York day in and day out, I sometimes forget how beautiful the sky is. To see the water, to wake up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore was so heart cleansing, soul cleansing. I really felt that Hawaii is almost like a taste of heaven. If I could name a place that would pretty much represent what the Kingdom of Heaven would be like, I think I would have to say Hawaii. And the island people are so friendly.

Even the name, Ha-wai-i, sounds like God is laughing, ha-ha. Why? Because he created an island that's just so beautiful. Blue skies, palm trees everywhere, and these beautiful, incredible trees called banyan trees from India. They're peculiar looking in that their roots extend from the branches to the soil. They're gigantic and majestic, and you can walk within and through the branches. I was so captivated by God's mystery and his handiwork to see all this beauty. And everyone is smiling there! I guess many people are on vacation there. Watching people enjoying themselves, being laid back and just appreciating the beauty of the universe, I said to myself, "This must be what heaven is all about."

How wonderful that we could send our True Parents back to Korea from an island that greets every fellow citizen with "Aloha." I just found out on this trip the real meaning of aloha. They tell me that aloha means "I love you." I would like to think that in the Kingdom of Heaven we would all be greeting each other with, "Aloha," saying, "I love you." I thought it was so interesting to hear from a member of the royal family, who delivered the royal crest to our True Parents after the service; he said, "In Hawaii we do not have a word for good-bye. The only word that we have that would mean good-bye in English is 'until we meet again.'"

So here we were on an island that greets everybody with "aloha" and that never says "good-bye." To have our final U.S. Legacy of Hope event in Hawaii was incredibly profound in that when we are sending our departed ones back to the embrace of our Heavenly Parent, we're not really saying good-bye. Just like the Hawaiians, what we are saying is, "Until we meet again."

Being there with True Parents was incredibly meaningful; though, of course, we missed all of you here in New York. Our True Parents really went out of their way to honor these departed great men and women, especially the late Gen. Alexander Haig, who was instrumental in liberating my father from the Hungnam concentration camp with the allied forces. This was Father's way of giving back, honoring and thanking America and the allied forces for allowing him the opportunity to play the role as the True Parent, raising up a young group of Americans who can understand their providential responsibility and understand the incredible time that we're living in together with our True Parents, so that we Americans can feel empowered to share the breaking news with the rest of the world that our True Parents are here.

So our True Parents went back in high spirits. Of course, when they leave they always encourage me to give their love to all of you, to let you know how much they truly love you with all their hearts. When I think about our True Parents and their philosophy of living for the sake of others and what it means in our lives, it leads me to this one thought I'd like to touch upon.

When we say to each other, "I want to live my life for the sake of others," we're pledging ourselves to be something more than just an individual. Unlike the Christian understanding that focuses on individual salvation, when we proclaim that we want to live our lives for the sake of others, our individual salvation becomes secondary. Living life in such a way that you become an instrument of God and an agent of change means that you can transmit the incredible power of true love to your siblings, your friends, your colleagues, and fellow humanity. Then we become saved individually.

Whenever you have a group of people, you have good times, but sometimes there are difficult times, too. The word that tends to creep up whenever you have a group of people trying to work together is entitlement. When we strive to walk the road of self-discovery and when we strive to work together as a team, we tend to stumble across the idea of entitlement.

For somebody who's been married for over 26 years, I know that in the course of a marriage relationship, whenever the word entitlement creeps in, it's usually a recipe for misunderstanding. I've noticed that when you try to look at the word and how that word is created, en-title-ment, it sounds like "in title." When we're engulfed in an entitlement mind-set, what we tend to do is immerse ourselves in this concept of being in this thing called a title.

When we're thinking of our worth in terms of how we are titled by others -- such as in how our positions are seen or our possessions are understood -- then what happens is that we pollute our attitudes about life. For instance, one might feel entitled to a position, to be, perhaps a husband. There can be different understandings of what husband really means. When going down this road of discovery, rubbing up against our spouse, learning how to be a better person, a better partner, we need to work out lots of things.

When a husband is concentrating on his position as the boss in the family, the "husband," a lot of things get attached to that word, and a great deal of misunderstanding can happen. In my family, whenever my husband and I have a misunderstanding, I like to remind him, "Two tickets to Boston." That reminds my husband of an incident that happened more than 20 years ago. We were in the throes of trying to work out our relationship. My husband was trying a new concept: He's a Korean man; he needs to be my boss; he needs to tell me how things should be; he needs to teach me what a wife should be.

Before understanding that living for the sake of others is really an invitation to learn together so that we can make ourselves better as a couple, every couple usually goes through a period when they think they know it all or they're replaying a tape recorder of their parents in their relationship with each other. My husband grew up with a military father and with a mother who basically lived in the kitchen. At that point in our marriage, he thought, "Let's try the military approach. Let's try to keep the wife in the kitchen."

We went through a time when I really struggled because, following in his father's footsteps, he wanted his slippers out before he came home. He wanted a glass of water when he got up. He barked a lot of orders throughout the day. I was really struggling and praying to Heavenly Father, "What are you trying to teach me through this man?" But I thought, following in my mother's footsteps, "Patience. I'm sure I will find a moment to articulate what I'm feeling. Maybe this is something my husband needs to play out."

There he went, barking his orders, wanting his slippers, wanting his pajamas folded a certain way on the bed, wanting me to go into the kitchen and get him things. Initially I was playing along. I'm sure my husband was thinking, "This is working quite well. I am getting my wife in shape. She's doing what I'm saying. I must be an awesome husband."

I was asking him, "What else would you like?" Sometimes he would sit in his chair with his remote and say, "I want this," and I would get it for him. Then he would look at me and think, "Maybe I can push her a little bit more." I could hear the mechanics working out in his head, "I wonder how far I can push her." "Can you get a napkin?" with his foot up on the Lazy-Boy chair. So I would get a napkin. Then he would look at me and return to the TV, then look at me again. "How about some popcorn?" He would push me just to see how far I would bend.

One of the things I was always adamant about was, when you eat, sure, I'll make the food, but after you finish eating, brush your teeth. That was something that I always stuck to. Sometimes he would, and sometimes he wouldn't.

There was one instance when we were both taking the Delta Shuttle to Boston. Right before we left, he was hungry, so he said, "Honey, make me some really, really hot kimchi fried rice." I looked at him and said, "We don't have enough time." But I think it was one of those moments when he thought, "Let's try the military approach and see how much I can push my wife." So he said, "Can you go make some fried rice?" I said, "Yes, but we might miss our shuttle." Then he said, "Well, if we miss it, we'll take the next one, but let's shoot for this one." Because he was adamant, I went into the kitchen and made it extra spicy because I wanted it to burn. I made it extra salty. I think I put a lot of soy sauce in there.

So I came out of the kitchen and said, "Are you sure you want to eat this? This is going to stink up the car." He said, "Can you bring it in the car?" I said, "Okay," so I put it in a container and said, "You know, it's really smelly," but off went the top. He was really thoroughly enjoying it but sweating at the same time. I was mildly delighted that I was getting some perspiration out of this one.

When we finally got to the Delta Shuttle, he had eaten the whole thing, and the whole car smelled like kimchi fried rice on wheels. When you're eating Korean food together with someone, there's nothing more delicious. But when one person is sitting next to you who is the only one eating, it's really quite unbearable because it's really smelly. But he thoroughly enjoyed it, and he was sweating. But he was feeling good and I was feeling good, so off we went to the Delta counter.

My husband is a very impatient person. He likes to do everything 120 miles an hour, so he rushed up to the Delta counter and bent over the counter and yelled out to the attendant standing there, "TWO TICKETS TO BOSTON, PLEASE." But he had no idea what he smelled like. Can you imagine? It was almost like a fire-breathing dragon of kimchi and the smell of food in decay. Had the attendant been eating Korean food along with him, no problem. But here she was, fresh-faced, ready to check him in, and out came the "Two tickets to Boston, please."

I was following my husband as I saw this scene unfold as though it were in slow motion. I could literally see the smell of Korean decay overwhelming this fresh-faced lady, and she almost fell over backward. I thought, "Yes!" She was hanging on for dear life, trying to maintain a polite exterior, but my husband didn't realize what was happening. He said, "DO YOU WANT MY FREQUENT-FLIER NUMBER?" She was cringing, trying to be polite, trying to type. But my husband just kept on going, "THE NUMBER IS 2-2-4-9 …" and he kept leaning over.

I came up to my husband and said, "Honey, you didn't brush your teeth. The lady is suffering here. Let me finish the frequent-flier number for you."

That incident for our couple is a reminder for my husband that the military way may not be the best way: Maybe brushing his teeth and listening to his wife every now and then might be a good thing. Of course this happened a long time ago, and my husband is well on his way to becoming the kind of person that God would like him to be, but that was a moment that we'll never forget.

When they start their relationship, every husband and wife go through different phases, trying out things they think might work in their relationship, without really considering living for the sake of others. What they are doing is concentrating on, "What is my position vis-à-vis this person? What's my understanding of my position, from my parents, from my grandparents, from my friends?"

As another example, if my friends are telling me I should be class president, how should I be? Should I walk around the halls of high school thinking that I'm the king or the queen of the school? Or if my friends elected me and allowed me to exercise my position for the benefit of others, how should I be as the chosen representative? Maybe I should serve others and not just think that this is my position, "in title," I am the president, I am the top dog, and you obey me.

Again, when we think about the word entitlement, thinking what we can get out of life, if that's the only thing we're concentrating on, then we're going to get caught by what I call the three Ps: First, Position. Second, Possession, materialistic ownership, thinking that our goal in life is just to amass huge quantities of the best things.

The Legacy of Peace events really reminded me of the simplicity in life. When we remember that we come from the bosom of our Heavenly Parent to this world, we are born naked, and we will leave this world naked, then what we do in the time in between is really a gift that our Heavenly Parent has given us, to leave something beautiful behind.

If we lead our lives only in pursuit of wealth or materialistic gain, these are not things we can take to the afterlife. These are not the beautiful memories that we're going to enjoy eternally in the bosom of our Heavenly Parent. These are things that will be left behind and will decay when we're gone.

But if we can leave something beautiful behind, like wonderful kids, and inspire them to dream the impossible, to imagine a world that's beautiful, to want to be a part of a world that believes in peace, cooperation, and unity, then that's something worth living for.

Instead of the young people being engulfed in this notion of "show me the money," or being the Millennial Generation, where the only thing they care about is fast cars, fast money, fast men and women, if we truly understand that life is not a place where we should feel a sense of entitlement, where we demand certain attachments or possessions, then it's really an opportunity to serve others, to give to others, to raise others up. It's not what we get but what we can give.

When we're thinking about the Blessing, probably the most important thing is that we should not come to it thinking, "What am I going to possess at the end of the process? What am I going to be entitled to at the end of the Blessing process? What am I going to own at the end of the Blessing process?" Instead we should be thinking, "What can I offer of myself to this other person that I am going to call my eternal partner? How can I love this person?" Not "What kind of love will I get from that person?"

It's the simple change in thinking and understanding that makes a world of difference. For instance, I've seen a lot of parents who think that children are their possession, belonging to them absolutely. But if we really think about it, they are a gift placed in our care for us to nurture, support, and empower. Before they are our children, they are Heavenly Parent's children. Instead of our children being something we possess, they are something we have an opportunity to raise, to love, and to make better.

When we're thinking about the theme of entitlement in terms of understanding that life should really be what is given to me, not what I should give it, and we get stuck on words like position and possession, it naturally leads us to what I call Pollution of attitude. The minute you feel entitled to something, that you deserve something in position or in possession, what you are doing is exercising a heart of non-gratitude. We're not being grateful any more when we are saying, "This position is mine. This belongs to me. Everything is me." When we start thinking like that, then we forget, "What about us? What about humanity? What about a thankful heart for living in this incredible time with our True Parents?"

We are living in an incredible age when we have an opportunity to be that agent of change to alter history forever. We are the future disciples of Jesus Christ. We are the people that future generations will cite, will tell stories about. We are the chosen ones, not in that we are any better but in that we have an opportunity to do something wonderful with our lives.

The Bible tells us through Psalm 118:24 that God has given this day to us, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. The psalmist is reminding us that God is not giving us days, weeks, or months. He's saying, "This day God hath made. This one day." It's a reminder to take our lives one day at a time.

Greed has a very interesting face in that many times it can come in the form of a goal or purpose in life. You can break down your goals and purpose in life and take things one day at a time, starting in the morning thanking our Heavenly Parent and True Parents, finishing the day thanking our Heavenly Parent and True Parents, and trying to live that day to the best that you possibly can.

When you take things one day at a time, your achievements on a daily basis might seem insignificant, almost like somebody standing at the edge of a pond throwing a pebble each day, and you're not going to see anything for a long time. But there will come a time when one pebble you throw will poke up through water's surface, and you realize that all the other pebbles you've thrown have not been wasted. In fact, all those days you couldn't see anything from the surface were the days when you were setting a solid and strong foundation for all that you were going to accomplish in your lifetime. The things we are going to accomplish will be extraordinary when we realize that we are God's sons and daughters and that we hold within us an infinite reservoir of love and an infinite reservoir of potential that's just waiting to be realized.

Our True Parents celebrated the Legacy of Peace in America, and now they have initiated events in all 50 states and all around the world. They are seizing an opportunity to remind us that we have a set time here on earth, so let's make it worthwhile. Through these Legacy of Peace events, our True Parents are asking us what kind of legacy we are going to leave behind. What are we going to build on top of the pebbles that finally break through the water? What will we be remembered for when we cross into eternal life?

When we sing "Heaven Can Wait" with Chris Alan, our attitude should be, "God, you have given us so much already. Please sit back and watch what I'm going to do with my life, how I'm going to honor you, so when I get back into your arms I can come back home gloriously, knowing that I've honored the gift that you gave me, which was life, by valuing it, by understanding it as something meaningful, and by leaving something beautiful behind that will continue in the tradition that you taught me."

In that way we can see the hand of God mysteriously working in all of our lives, and all we have to do is to remind ourselves of this, one day at a time. The greatest detriment for living for the sake of others is this idea of entitlement. If we understand that the entitlement concept ultimately leads to the pollution of attitude and ingratitude, therefore we must be vigilant in truly asking ourselves and asking each other, "How are we going to live each day of our lives?" In so doing we are going to realize when we look back on the 10 or 20 or 30 years that have passed that we have been building something incredibly awesome.

For the First Generation, who have labored on for more than three decades in the American movement, I'm sure you went through phases in your marriage relationships, in relationship with your children, in relationship with your friends. But in our Second and Third and now Fourth Generation, we have something beautiful. We have an opportunity to make the world an awesome place, and a safe place for our children.

What we need to do in this second year of Lovin' Life Ministry is not just keep the good news for ourselves, not just enjoy the blessing for ourselves. Let's share in the breaking news, proclaim our True Parents, and let the people know that they are here and that this is an important time when we can graft onto that original olive branch and to find for ourselves what it means to experience true love, true life, and true lineage in our lives.

Brothers and sisters, please keep our True Parents in your hearts, and please meditate on what the word entitlement means in your lives. Think about how we should deal with our different concepts and opinions, and how to apply our True Parents' philosophy of living for the sake of others by really thinking about the other person first before ourselves.

Have a great week. Next week I'll be in Tokyo for the Youth Concert, then going on to Korea to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our True Parents there. Even though I will not be with you next week, my heart and my prayers are with you. Please have a safe week. Until I see you again, please go in good spirits. Thank you. God bless.

Notes:

Psalms, chapter 118

1: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!

2: Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."

3: Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."

4: Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."

5: Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.

6: With the LORD on my side I do not fear.
What can man do to me?

7: The LORD is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

8: It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to put confidence in man.

9: It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to put confidence in princes.

10: All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

11: They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

12: They surrounded me like bees,
they blazed like a fire of thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

13: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the LORD helped me.

14: The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.

15: Hark, glad songs of victory
in the tents of the righteous:
"The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,

16: the right hand of the LORD is exalted,
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"

17: I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the LORD.

18: The LORD has chastened me sorely,
but he has not given me over to death.

19: Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.

20: This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.

21: I thank thee that thou hast answered me
and hast become my salvation.

22: The stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner.

23: This is the LORD's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.

24: This is the day which the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25: Save us, we beseech thee, O LORD!
O LORD, we beseech thee, give us success!

26: Blessed be he who enters in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.

27: The LORD is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar!

28: Thou art my God, and I will give thanks to thee;
thou art my God, I will extol thee.

29: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever! 

True Parents' 50th Holy Wedding Anniversary Fishing Tournament

In Jin Moon
April 13, 2010

NHQ20100413 No. 3

To: All District, State and Church leaders, all Blessed Central Families
From: Reverend In Jin Moon and Dr. Chang Shik Yang
Date: April 13, 2010
Re: True Parents' 50th Holy Wedding Anniversary Fishing Tournament

Father asked that we keep the tradition of holding two fishing tournaments every year -- one in the spring at the Hudson River and one in the fall in Alaska.

Though we are really only asking that the East Coast District Directors focus on this, we want to extend this opportunity nationwide for those who would like to register for this fishing tournament. Each district should send at least one representative who is experienced at fishing. There may also be an Ambassador for Peace and or an ACLC Pastor who might love to attend. 2010 Annual Peace King Cup Fishing Tournament on the Hudson River

SCHEDULE:

DAY 1: Sunday, May 2nd

Oceanic Seminar by Dr. Noda.

Fishing Techniques and Orientation by Mr. Takahashi.

12:30 pm-2:30 pm, Grand Ballroom, Manhattan Center

DAY 2: Saturday, May 8th

Fishing Tournament

7:00 am register, 8:00 am-5:00 pm fishing, Croton-on-Hudson, NY

6:00 pm Closing ceremony at Belvedere Estate, Tarrytown, NY

COST:

$120 per person (includes two dozen bloodworms)

$100 extra if need rod and reel, please order in advance

$40 for guests or members fishing on their own boat or from the shore

$10 Seminar only

WHO MAY ATTEND:

Open to all American Leaders and Members and guests. Emphasis on East Coast members, guests and youth.

PRIZES:

1st Prize: $3000 / Medal and Trophy

2nd Prize: $2000 / Medal and Trophy

3rd Prize: $1000 / Medal and Trophy

THINGS TO PREPARE:

Fishing rod, fishing lines, hook and sinker (for catching striped bass at Hudson River).

Personal medications

Waterproof outerwear-Raingear and boots

Sunglasses

Hat

Sunscreen

Gloves

Lunch Box, water bottle

FISHING LICENSE:

All participants are now required to purchase a marine fishing license in advance of the tournament. It can be purchased online at www.dec.ny.gov/permits/28941.html (New York State Dept. of Conservation D.E.C.A.L.S. Program). A printed receipt is valid as a license.

REGISTRATION:

Each participant is asked to fill in the attached form and send it by May 1st to Mr. Terry McMahon by e-mail or by fax.

INQUIRIES:

Mr. Terry McMahon
HSA-UWC NJ
78 DeMott Avenue
Clifton, NJ 07011

Sincerely,

Reverend In Jin Moon
President and CEO, HSA, FFWPU -- USA

Dr. Chang Shik Yang
Continental Director -- North America

Downloads

Fishing Tournament Registration Form (Boat Owners and Shore Fishing) pdf

Fishing Tournament Rules, Purpose and History pdf

Fishing Tournament Poster pdf

Fishing Tournament Flyer pdf