Faith & Life

Young Adults’ Passion Cleans the World

On November 30, 2017, we held a cleanup with the slogan “Mother’s Street” behind the Quezon City City Hall. The volunteers were mostly young adults. Whenever we passed by, people asked us where we were from and what we were doing. They seemed to be much curious to see many young people carry out volunteer activities with smiles. “We are from the Church of God. We’re spreading Mother’s love to people. Good morning!” Although the weather was very hot, I was much encouraged that we could shine God’s glory by participating in the volunteer event. Though what we could do was very small, I was filled with joy. We picked up garbage one by one like treasure until we filled…

Sharina Aya Z. Gorospe from Quezon City, Philippines

Throwing Away Greed

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them . . . God saw all that he had made, and it was very good . . .” Ge 1:27–31 Humans were very good creatures in God’s eyes. It must be obvious that their real intention (the mind that remains same from the begining) was pure, right, and clean. However, the pure heart became unclean as greed began to fill the heart. The more greed expands, the uncleaner God-pleasing pure heart becomes. Love one another, give thanks in all circumstances, and be content . . . The word of God is the guideline and the compass that enables us…

Grant Your Family’s Small Wishes

Fairy tales often feature someone who grants wishes of the main character. So the main character can live a new life or overcome crises and find happiness thanks to the wish granter. This can happen not only in fairy tales. If you make a little bit more effort, you can easily grant a small wish of your precious family. If that happens, your family won’t be envious of anyone who has extraordinary power in fairy tales. If you grant each other’s wishes with consideration and sincerity, the whole family will automatically be happier. Please be willing to grant your loved one’s “small wishes” this month. Maybe a beautiful story like a fairy tale will unfold before you! Tip Create a…

Joy Earned with Patience

This happened when I was preaching the gospel in Philadelphia, USA, by the grace of Heavenly Father and Mother. I had no fruit for quite some time, so I was worrying, thinking, ‘How come I don’t have fruit?’ Finally, through the short-term mission to Altoona, God gave me a fruit—Sister Carolyn, who is over eighty. Making an eight-hour round trip every Sunday, I diligently delivered the truth of the Sabbath, the Passover, and God Elohim for two months. But one day, I suddenly lost contact with her. So worried, I visited her. I didn’t know what had happened, but in a cold manner she refused to receive the Truth Book I handed to her. On the desk, there was a…

Shin Da-un from Anyang, South Korea

Planting Tree Seedlings

The Canoas Zion planned to perform a voluntary service together with the Department of Environment of the Municipality of Canoas. Our job was to plant tree seedlings in a park. On the day of the event, we met early in the park. An officer from the Department of Environment and an invited environmentalist thanked us for participation and talked about the importance of planting trees. “It is said that we should drink at least eight glasses of water a day. In the future, however, water will be so expensive and scarce due to environmental pollution. Not just water, but air will also become more polluted. Many countries will have to make big artificial lungs to get fresh air. The thing…

Bruna Carvalho de Lima from Canoas, Brazil

Missing Mom’s Arms

At a school in India, a little boy who is walking around the classroom suddenly seems to have a good idea and goes out with chalks in his both hands. Walking through the kids playing in groups, he takes a secluded spot and begins to draw a big picture on the cement floor with chalks. The teacher watching him from afar comes up and looks surprised at the picture. The picture the little kid has drawn is a woman with her open arms. The boy takes off his shoes and lays himself on the woman’s arms. This video ends with the phrase, “Some of us, unlike most of the privileged ones, value and solely desire a mother’s love.” This is…

Smile

Just like a Korean proverb says, “Blessing follows when you smile,” there is nothing to lose to smile. There are, however, different types of smiling. When we are happy, the muscles around our eyes contract and crinkle up. The genuine smile without faking is called the Duchenne smile, named after the neurologist who first discovered it. Duchenne smile stimulates the part of our brain where it feels joy. A university professor in the United States experimented whether the types of smiles have relevance to the quality of life. The professor precisely analyzed the smiles of 111 women from the university yearbook and tracked down their lives for 30 years. The research concluded that the graduates with genuine smiles were having…

After Realizing Heavenly Father and Mother

I was born in Denmark, and when I was twelve years old, my mom and I moved to Malmö, Sweden. As I grew up, I became selfish, and I couldn’t see any meaning in life. I moved back to Denmark and I partied as much as I could. I started working out a lot, wanting to be the strongest and the best looking. Then, I moved back to Sweden and went back to school with intent to start a new life. One day, someone knocked on my door. Two Koreans were standing outside, wanting to tell me about God the Mother. Since they didn’t speak English well, I didn’t really understand what they were talking about, but I was still…

Simon Peter Lindmer from Gothenburg, Sweden

A Penguin Flies

A baby penguin saw a skua flying in the sky, and fell into a deep thought, ‘I want to fly like that bird. I don’t want to waddle like this. It looks funny. I have wings, too. Will I be able to fly too if I practice hard?’ From that time on, the baby penguin tried his best to fly. Sadly, no matter how hard he flapped his wings, he couldn’t fly. As he was discouraged by repeated failures, his mommy penguin took him to a high ice wall. He looked down and felt dizzy. “It’s okay. Don’t worry, and just jump off. You can fly!” The baby penguin was scared, but he plucked up his courage by his mom’s…

Priming Effect

If an athlete or a sporting team that lost an important match appears in a commercial, you will not feel reliance on the product advertising. This is not groundless. The priming effect which is widely used as a marketing method explains why. In psychology, priming is an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus influences a response to another stimulus. People tend to have positive feelings about things after they are primed by positive feelings; and negative feelings after they are primed by negative feelings. For this reason, one of the world famous beverage companies makes it a rule not to send out their commercials after a serious discussion programme or the news about accidents. Otherwise, it may…

What We Need Now Is Tolerance and Forgiveness

In the old time Korea, scholars, who were called Seonbi, were rarely angered and generously extended forgiveness and tolerance to others, regarding them as virtues. Shouting loud in the streets or fighting in anger were considered a vulgar behavior which only the lower class did. Now, however, the world has changed and people with a loud voice are being treated as masters. We live together with others in the world. Since we interact with different people daily, hurting each other is a common occurrence. The funny thing is that we easily forget our wrongdoing to others, but hardly forget what others have done to us. Sometimes we even think of revenging someday. However, our anger eventually leads us to self-destruction.…

Tell the Truth

Many distinguished hospitals in America have introduced “Tell the truth” program. “Tell the truth” program was devised for medical errors; when a medical error occurs, the medical team meets the patient’s family, promises them that they will be honest with the investigation, comforts the pain of the patient’s family, and show them empathy. If the medical team is found guilty through a clear investigation, the team gives a sincere apology and suggests an appropriate compensation. Simply put, it is to admit one’s mistake and apologize for it. It is said that the patient’s family feels less painful even if the medical team is not found guilty, because of the efforts and consideration that the team shows them. The hospitals that…

The Realm of God Is Established in Mutare Too

In 2018 when Zion was being established all over the world at an unbelievably fast speed, our Zion members in Harare, Zimbabwe, also prepared to plant the gospel in a new region. However, the plan we made ambitiously faced a difficulty from the beginning; it wasn’t easy to find a place to stay during the mission trip in a region called Mutare where we decided to go for the short-term mission. We kept on looking for a proper place while constantly praying to God to help us establish Zion in Mutare. Then we got hold of a sister who lived in Mutare. The sister received the truth in Durban, Rep of South Africa, and came back to Mutare, her hometown,…

Enos Mutazu from Harare, Zimbabwe

No Conceit

People who are fond of mountain climbing would like to try the Himalayas. But conquering the Himalayas is not easy at all. Since the peaks are significantly high, they have strenuous treks that even fray professional mountain climbers’ nerves, and this causes constant accidents. Ten percent of fatal accidents attribute to falls, and surprisingly, a fall occurs most right after people reach a mountain peak. This is why they say the Himalayas do not allow conceit. When people reach the top after an arduous journey, they feel relieved and release their tension. They might feel proud of themselves. However, conceit at the peak of a mountain can bring about a terrible accident. Even at the top, never forget what and…

A Smile Brings Joy

One day, I had dizziness. Feeling my whole body weak, I even had nausea. As I am well-built and had not lost strength or appetite before, I was worried about these sudden symptoms. After hesitating a little bit, I went to the hospital. The hospital was where my father had been treated before. The doctor said that I didn’t really need to worry about my symptoms. Then unexpectedly, he asked if my father was doing well, remembering that I had come as my father’s guardian. He also asked if my father would go out often. He advised me to make him laugh a lot to prevent depression that might occur if he stays only at home because he’s so quiet.…

Seo Hui-jeong from Daejeon, South Korea

Temperature of Life, 36.5℃

Normal body temperature is 36.5℃ [97.7℉]. In this temperature, blood circulation and enzymes activities that are crucial for the support of life such as metabolism, immunity, digestion, and absorption which are the most active. If the temperature drops even by 1℃, the enzymes in the body become less active, which weakens immunity and metabolism and causes the body to be easily affected by diseases. When the temperature drops down to 34℃ [93.2℉], it brings about the heart’s slow beat, inarticulate speech, and an imbalance of the body. When it drops to 33℃ [91.4℉], the muscles harden and hallucination occurs. At 30℃ [86℉], a person becomes unconscious, and the body temperature of 28℃ [82.4°F] causes death. In this way, the body…

The Best Time to Start

Grandma Moses, an American folk artist, began painting in earnest around the age of 80 and made about 1,600 pieces of artwork before dying at the age of 101. Living in the rural countryside all her life, she had never received a decent art education. However, many of her artworks containing bucolic sceneries of America were loved by many. Those who watched her lyrical and heartwarming artworks felt peace of mind. “People always say that it’s too late. However, in fact, now is the best appropriate time. For a man who really wants to seek for something, every period of life is younger and timely.”

The Niagara Syndrome

Life is like a flowing river. The river is calm and quiet on a flat land, but the water current gets fast when it meets a waterfall, and falls off the bottomless cliff. In the same way, our life flows smoothly but then it sometimes meets an unexpected slope. There is a syndrome that likens the crisis of life to a big waterfall—the Niagara Syndrome. It indicates the situation where people flounder and struggle in the sudden crisis they face while spending time in the flow of the world with no clear goals and set of values. Life is not like a pond that stays in its place, so we cannot avoid big and small crisis in our life. However,…

Pleasant and Happy Volunteer Service

The Baltimore Church visited the Sunrise of Silver Spring, an assisted living facility, to cheer up senior citizens living there by performing various songs and dances at the end of the year. Many of the residents clapped, tapped their feet, and sang along with us. One resident even stood up and danced, holding the hand of one of us with a happy smile. The residents thanked us for coming and asked when we would come again. We all smiled brightly, promising we would visit soon. It was fun and we really wanted to revisit. I had never felt such genuine happiness when I used to visit a nursing home once a month with another organization before I joined the Church…

Melissa Hutchins from Baltimore, MD, U.S.

Metacognition

A broadcasting company conducted an experiment to find the secret of excelling in studies. The experimenter separated the students who obtained top ranks in the mock exam from the average students, and gave them memory tests. He showed them a list of 30 unrelated words at a rate of 3 seconds per word, and asked them to recall as many words as they could. As a result of the test, the two groups of students were approximately equal in their level of retention. Before the test, the experimenter let the students guess how many words they would be able to recall, and this caused a difference between them; the number of words that the academically excellent students recalled was almost…