Faith & Life

Lift the Corners of Your Mouth

A simple movement can instantly brighten your mood. It can bring out your most beautiful expression, make you look more youthful, and even leave a pleasant impression on others. What’s the secret? Just lift the corners of your mouth. The facial muscles used for lifting the mouth corners are called the levator anguli oris. These muscles play an important role in expressing emotions and communicating feelings. When you smile, you not only show happiness, joy, and satisfaction—you also share those positive emotions with others, and your own mind begins to feel them too. This month, try practicing this small habit of lifting the corners of your mouth. You may find that your happiness rises right along with your smile! Tip…

Take One Step Closer with “What”!

“What” is a pronoun we use to ask about something unknown. It often appears in questions that spark curiosity and naturally reveal our experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Through such questions, we gain a deeper understanding of one another. If a question is the doorway to conversation, then “what” is the key that opens it. This month, try asking your family questions that begin with “what.” You may uncover things you never knew—and grow a little closer in the process. Tip Try asking questions that start with “what,” such as: What made you feel good today? What are you thankful for today? What would you like to eat? What makes you happy? What do you think we have in common? *…

Prince’s Identity

A king visited a village famous for unfriendly neighbors. Before he left, he made a request: “My youngest son is staying here temporarily. Please be nice to him.” But the king didn’t tell anyone who the prince was or where he was staying. The villagers began to greet each other with smiles, thinking any child could be a prince. While doing so, they came to greet each other with gentle words and looks on their faces even among adults. A few months later, the king came to the village again. The villagers didn’t know who the prince was yet. “O king, did you come here to take the prince back? Who is he?” Then the king answered with a smile.…

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.

Your Beginnings Will Seem Humble

A river starts from a drop of water. A raindrop falling from the sky, and tiny water drops that well up from the forest and form a spring gather and flow into a stream. When they meet other streams from every direction, they get a name, river. The river that embraces dozens or hundreds of tributaries flows continuously and becomes wider and deeper. The waters that have gathered in the river do not quarrel but flow without any complaint until they reach their destination, sea. While the river goes with the flow, it achieves things that it could not even think of when it was alone as a single drop. It breaks down a hard rock with a strong wave…

Love Starts from Seeing

“A rainbow is a full circle.” It sounds odd but it is true. From an observer’s line of sight, we can only see half of the circle above the horizon, but it is full circular if seen from an airplane. Anorexics, who refuse or are afraid to eat, look in the mirror and see themselves fatter than they really are. Researchers at a hospital in London have found that anorexic teenagers have an abnormality in blood flow to the part of the brain which affects body image. If you try to believe only what you can see, you come to make a hasty judgment. If you regard a part of something as its whole, or if you take a fake…

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, 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

Looking for the Narrow Gate That Leads to Life

Around 2008, I began to notice all the signs of various disasters around the world more and more frequently. I had heard that such disasters were prophesied in the Bible as the signs of the last days. I came to think about my life and about salvation, and came to the conclusion that because I did not know God nor God’s will and was not living a life following God, I would not be able to go to heaven. My search for God and for the truth began. I began looking up videos on the Internet, visited bookstores, and stayed for hours in the religion section. I joined a Catholic club on my university’s campus and asked the club leader…

Carly Dinnie from Middletown, CT, U.S.

Finding Brothers and Sisters Who Are Filled with the Fervor for the Truth

The State of Arunachal Pradesh in India is located 1,100 km [680 miles] east of Damak, Nepal. Its majority is the Mishmu tribe who has been living there since long ago. You may feel like you are in a different planet when you face their new language, culture, and tradition. In the age when the light of the gospel is being preached in Samaria and to the ends of the earth, this state are being cultivated by a brother who moved here to preach to his family and relatives. His family members realized the Spirit and the Bride, the Saviors in this age, preached boldly, and led many souls who were eager for the words of truth into the arms…

Damak, Nepal

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

My Son’s Talent Show

On the day when I moved to the new home, I quickly unpacked all the stuff and was preparing to attend the Third-day service. Then, my husband received a pleasant call from a member; he told us to come to Zion close to our new house because there would be a dedication service. The person who cheered for joy the most was my fifth grader son in elementary school. As his wish was to meet Heavenly Mother even once, he jumped with joy at Mother’s coming to bless us. My son’s love for Mother was so big that his eyes welled up with tears by just thinking of Mother. He helped us preach to our family or acquaintances by showing…

Eom Jin-suk from Seoul, South Korea

Treasure

Everyone has their own personal treasure. To some, their hard-earned wealth is a treasure, to some their authority or honor which they have acquired after a great deal of effort is a treasure, and to others their children who are the apple of their eye are a treasure that cannot be exchanged for anything in the world. However, no matter how great and precious their treasure is, its value does not remain consistent. Their treasure is doomed to fade as time passes by, and there is no treasure that keeps its value forever on this earth. It may be a treasure to them during their lifetime, but it cannot be an eternal treasure. The situation is different if they make…

Change of Thoughts

Every week, I cleaned the street nearby my college with the ASEZ club members. But at some point, I found myself cleaning the same place because it went back to its previous state within a few days after we cleaned up. I even thought, ‘Does someone dump garbage intentionally?’ Seeing the street filled with garbage, I felt sad because the faces of my club members, who cleaned it up with the beads of sweat, lingered in my mind. Sometimes, I felt like our volunteer service was in vain. All of a sudden, I remembered the phrase, “change of thoughts,” on the Church of God website. If we think that we have done something for others, we tend to want something…

Busan, South Korea, Lee Seok-jun

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

Older Sister’s Confession of Love

It was the Lunar New Year holidays during the winter vacation when I was in the second grade of elementary school. My aunt, who had lived close at hand and moved to a remote city, visited our home. We were all smiles to see her family in a long time. Before returning, my aunt felt sorry to part that she wanted to take me and my sister to her home and show us here and there, and buy us some delicious food. I liked my aunt and wanted to follow her, but the school was about to begin and I got carsick easily that my parents stopped me. Eventually, my aunt took my seven-year-old sister only. That day, I was…

Han Yu-mi from Changwon, South Korea

“I Knew It!”

We call the ability to see what is likely to happen in the future foresight. On the contrary to this, there is a psychological phenomenon called hindsight bias. It is the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable. In a restaurant you visit for the first time, if the food doesn’t suit your taste, you say, “I already assumed the food wasn’t going to be good.” If someone makes a mistake, you say, “I knew it.” If a big accident occurs, the press reports that it was an expected man-made disaster. These can be referred to as hindsight. What is interesting is that even though people didn’t expect at all or predicted in…