Enlightenment

The Greatest Coordinator

When I was young, my mother always bought me clothes that I loved. Not only my clothes, but also other items that my mother bought me, such as my shoes and belts, fit me very well at all times. I felt good whenever I stood in front of the mirror, wearing the clothes she picked for me. As I became an adolescent, I wanted to buy my style of clothing. After saving some allowances, I went to the store alone to buy clothes for the first time in my life. While looking around with excitement, a mannequin that was wearing a neat shirt and pants caught my eyes. ‘Wow! That is my style!’ I couldn’t take my eyes off the…

Tapiwa Toruvanda from Harare, Zimbabwe

Say, “I’m Sorry,” Before the Sunset

When winter passed and spring was about to begin, lockdown was issued in all cities in the U.K. It was an action taken to prevent the spread of the virus as the number of confirmed cases and deaths increased every day due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. As I started working from home, I was able to have more time with my family. It was really good at first. However, as time went by, I started being in conflict more often with my husband. As we felt comfortable with each other, we spoke less carefully, which ended up hurting each other’s feelings. One day, we raised our voices a little while arguing over something trivial. While trying to ignore…

Kim Du-ri from Manchester, U.K.

Unconditional Remission

The accounting and financial sector often deals with debts. A debt is a loan amount plus interest, and debt interest is calculated at an interest rate associated with an allotted time. In the case of an individual who has a huge debt that he cannot repay, there is a way to recover his personal economic activity. It is debt relief [cancellation]. The debtor will pay only a certain amount of debt and the remaining debt will be forgiven. This causes the creditor to lose the amount of debt that is forgiven because it is not repaid. Of course, there are many complex requirements for a debtor to be relieved of his debt, and his claim may not be accepted because…

Elias Américo Massicame from Maputo, Mozambique

A Prisoner in the City of Refuge

Clank! A blunt iron gate opened with a dull sound. A documentary captured the lives of prisoners in a women’s penitentiary. ‘How are their lives?’ My attention got focused on TV. Thirty minutes a day for exercise! It was the only time when the prisoners could see the sun. They laughed and talked. Some exercised while others just sat in the sun. If they did not wear uniforms, they would just look like ordinary women, not prisoners. A prisoner asked the reporter if her face would appear on TV. She didn’t ask because she minded it. “It doesn’t matter if they send me back home.” She laughed, but it sounded sad. It was four in the morning. The prisoners who…

Cho Eun-yeong from Ulsan, South Korea

The Flames Will Not Set You Ablaze

Around five o’clock in the early morning when everybody in my family was sleeping, a loud sound like a car crash woke me up. While I was still half asleep, something like a gunshot was heard. Fully awake, I woke up my husband. On the outside, I heard a few gunshots and people screaming and a motorcycle zooming. It became more and more chaotic. My husband and I were so confused, not knowing what was going on outside. My husband said, “There must be a fight outside. You might witness a scary scene. Never go outside.” Soon after, we heard people coming towards our yard. I was scared; some people might be surrounding our yard to harm us. My mom…

Celine Dharshana Solomon from Setapak, Malaysia

Even While I’m Sleeping

Some time ago, I read an article about a mother taking care of her sick son. Her son suffered from a disease that caused respiratory problems followed by muscle contraction. The doctors who diagnosed his disease told her that he only had eighteen months to live. She took her son back home, and began to massage his chest as often as possible to relax his muscles. Even while her son was sleeping, she didn’t stop massaging him. The problem was when she needed to sleep. She took catnaps, but even while she was taking it, she couldn’t fall into a deep sleep, worrying that her son might die from the shortness of breath. So, the maximum hours that she could…

Wei Wei from Philadelphia, PA, USA

A Kid Who Cannot See the Stars

The sound of kids’ laughter never ceased in a vacant lot in my neighborhood. Kids played there, forgetting about their hunger, and whenever it became dark, they gathered to count stars and look for constellations. Everybody enjoyed it except for one kid—me. “There are so many stars up there. You really don’t see any?” “Look! Connect those stars. They make the Big Dipper. It looks just like a ladle, just as we learned it at school.” “…” Whenever my friends asked me all these questions, pointing at the dark sky, I couldn’t say anything. They said the stars shine beautifully in the dark night sky like scattered jewels but those were just something I could only imagine. Why can I…

Jang Hui-won from Seongnam, South Korea

When We Look with the Eyes of Love

I ordered a clothes rack to organize my dressing room. The clothes rack arrived a few days later. Although I didn’t have time because of my night work, I put the rack together and started organizing the room. I wanted to finish it quickly, but I got tired when I was halfway done, and so I left it like that for several days. One day, my husband came back home and frowned, looking at the dressing room. “Why did you stop in the middle of organizing the dressing room? Do you feel good if the room is messy when you come home after working all day?” In this kind of situation, normally I would say, “It could happen if I…

Park Eun-jeong from Chuncheon, South Korea

A Novice Shepherd’s Realization

I was born and raised in one of the coldest northern states in the U.S. where the temperature went down to -40℃ (-40℉) in winter. It was hot in summer; it reached up to 38℃ (100℉). My closest neighbor was 1.6 km (1 mile) away, and I never really got to know them at all. In North Dakota, my dad had a farm where he sowed grains and raised hogs, cattle, horses, chickens and turkeys. One time, I asked my dad why he didn’t raise any sheep despite rich pasture for grazing and plenty of hay for the long winter. He just said that sheep were not the kind that he would enjoy tending. As I had no first-hand experience…

Alan Sayler from Houston, U.S.

Mother’s Love that I Haven’t Realized

Before I was born, my family had lived in Lima, the capital city of Peru. One day, there was a very strong earthquake in a region in Peru. At that time, my father was working at the Ministry of Home Affairs, and he was in charge of reconstructing the region damaged by the earthquake together with a group of professionals. Owing to this, my family moved to Huaraz, Ancash. After a few years, I was born as the last of six siblings. My oldest brother was thirteen years older than me. All my family took care of me with love. One morning, I got up and looked out the window of my bedroom. Things like white beads were falling from…

Mertty Polack from Lima, Peru

Mother’s Mind

My sister is one year older than me. Since we are similar in age, we often squabbled like friends. On all such occasions, however, my parents scolded me. I couldn’t accept their minds no matter how well they treated me because I thought it was unfair. As I began to work, I moved out from my parents’ and lived by myself. I went to see them once a week. One day, my mother, my sister, and I went shopping to a department store together after a long time. Looking around, here and there, my mother spotted my sister’s old shoes, and went to a shoe store to get a pair of shoes for her. I thought, ‘She will buy my…

Choi Eun-hye from Incheon, South Korea

The Selflessness of a Fire Fighter

“They were part of an elite squad confronting wildfires on the frontline, setting up barriers to stop the spreading of destruction. But in their unpredictable world, it doesn’t take much to turn a situation deadly.” CNN says of the 19 firefighters who are being honored posthumously for giving even their lives to fend the blaze of a wild fire in Arizona. The United States as a whole not only mourns the death of these fearless men, but is conscious of the situation they must’ve had when approaching the wildfire. In the U.S., the sacrifice of a fire fighter is not just the task of confronting disaster; it starts with the training. One who desires to serve must first willingly accept…

Michael Means from Charlotte, NC, USA

The Shepherd & the Sheep

Many of us, Mongolians, engage in stock-farming. In a vast meadow, we raise five kinds of livestock together—cows, horses, sheep, goats, and camels. Among them, we raise sheep the most. One family keeps approximately more than a thousand sheep. Every sheep has different colors—white, black, brown, dappled, and so on. I was born a son of a shepherd. I spent my childhood in Bayanmonkh-som (district), Khentii-aimag (province) until I came to Ulaanbaatar City to enter university. Usually I lived separately from my parents to go to school; during the summer vacation, I came back home in the countryside and tended the sheep in pasture, following my parents who are shepherds. Through such lifestyle and experience, I came to realize the…

B. Jargalsaikhan from Erdenet, Mongolia

Until a Precious Bowl Is Made

I watched a TV show about how a master craftsman, who is designated as intangible cultural asset, makes Bangjja, Korean type of hand-forged glossy brassware with yellowish color. Bangjja of such high quality were used for the king’s table. Bangjja made with traditional techniques has good durability, so it preserves its shape for a long time, doesn’t get discolored easily, and it gets the glossier as you use it more. Recently, it has been attracting more people’s attention because it’s proven that Bangjja neutralizes heavy metal toxicity and eliminate food toxicity and food poisoning bacteria. To make brassware with such outstanding effects, not only highly sophisticated skills but also a fairly complex process is demanded. The first step is melting…

Jo Mun-gyeong from Daejeon, Korea

Mommy Heaven

Recently in our church, we looked at a picture captioned Busy Mommy. The mother is standing at a stove, cooking and holding her child on her hip. A telephone is wedged between the mother’s shoulder and her ear, and the child is trying to grab the phone. At the same time, her other child is standing behind her, watching her. The mother in the picture seemed to be stressed because she was overwhelmed with so much work, but she did her very best by multitasking. Some brothers and sisters said that the mother looked somewhat under pressure and to be in need of some help, but as a mom myself, I saw it differently. In my mind, I captioned the…

Joy Meela Gallant from New Windsor, NY, U.S.

God’s True Intention

“Min! Can you come home and stay for a few days?” My mom asked me in a somewhat serious voice. Usually, she hardly mentions anything that could worry my brother and me. So, if she gave us a sudden call like that, it meant that something serious was going on. Sure enough, I found out that she had been taken to the emergency room because her lumbar disc had become worse, but it seemed that she had to stay in the hospital for some time because she was not getting any better. So I took emergency leave and went straight to my parents’ house. My mom was lying on the bed at the hospital, and her condition was worse than…

Park Dong-min from Anyang, South Korea

Mother of Six Children

My mom was a very kind and calm person. She used to read to me with a soft voice, and I liked it so much. I was brought up like a princess until I was five years old, when my little sister was born. She looked like a boy because she had only a few hairs and red chubby cheeks. Since my grandfather and grandmother had been eagerly waiting for the birth of their grandson, they were disappointed when my sister was born. After my sister’s first birthday, my mom’s stomach started to bulge again. When my mom came to an event at my kindergarten, with her belly bulging out and her face swollen, I felt a bit ashamed of…

Eun-jin Jo from Changwon, South Korea

Answer Me

A lady, who was tender with a very warm personality, lived next door. Her baby daughter was also well-behaved probably because she resembled her mom. The baby was not afraid of strangers and made no trouble, so I gave a hearty compliment to her, “You’re a really good girl. How cute!” As I joked that I would be able to bring her up since she was so gentle, her mother waved her hand. She said that I would not know how hard it was to take care of her if I just watched her for a while, but that at moments she felt anger rise in her as she was with her child all day long. One day, I stayed…

Ji-min Yim from Gunpo, South Korea

Parents’ Concern

As I stay in Russia away from home, I send pictures of myself to show my parents how I’m doing. It was on a day when it hailed for the first time last winter. A shower of hail looked marvelous. I took a photo of my hands receiving hailstones. My parents asked me about the hail and if it wasn’t too cold for me. I told them I was fine and healthy. That was it; we had an ordinary conversation. A few days later, however, my mom called me that she would send me some warm gloves. I thought she was saying so because of the cold weather but that wasn’t the reason. She thought my gloves receiving hailstones in…

Kang Yo-na from Chelyabinsk, Russia

Avoid Every Kind of Evil

I was sick for months. I bought all different kinds of medicine from the pharmacy and tried all kinds of treatment, including home remedies, but nothing made me better. When I came to the point that I might have to quit my job, I went to see the doctor whom I got to know through my work. My doctor prescribed me medicine for a week, and she firmly counseled me to avoid sugar during that period of time, because sugar weakens the immune system and slows down recovery. It wasn’t easy to take sugar out of my diet. Most delicious foods had sugar in them, and fruits and juice were no exceptions. It was the hardest on the first three…

Goitseone Thamae from Cape Town, South Africa