Faith & Life

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…

Improve Your Family’s Strengths!

If you want a seed or a plant to grow well, you need to place it on the spot with good sunlight and wind and raise it with care, rather than leaving it alone. It is the same with the seed of love. If you do not express love to your family, it is hard for the seed of love to grow well. In order for the seed of love to grow, bloom, and bear fruit, you should take good care of it. One of the ways is to look at your family’s strengths. While you are taking care of your family with the interest to find strengths, you will understand each other and love will grow big in your…

Finding Mother’s Precious Jewels

Remembering the happy memories of preaching about Heavenly Mother in South Africa through three times of short-term mission trips, this time I flew to Zambia located in the south central part of Africa. I transferred three times and after a 24 hour-flight, I finally arrived at the airport in Lusaka, the capital city. It looked like a bus terminal in a small city of Korea. There was no airport security and the network service was poor. The street condition was even worse; as soon as I got out of the airport area, unpaved roads extended endlessly. Going through a long dusty road, we arrived at the Lusaka House Church. Just like most of the houses in Zambia with vast land,…

Hong Jeong-eun from Seoul, South Korea

People Who Make Differences

In April, 2016, there was a record-breaking rainfall in Houston. About 500 mm [19.7 in] of rain poured, which is the six-month amount of rain in Korea. In Greenspoint, located in North Houston, the water rose up to over 30 cm [12 in], and water started coming in the first floors. On the first Sunday after the flood happened, more than sixty members from the Houston Church went to Greenspoint for a flood recovery work. Although about a week passed after the flood, the recovery work was slow. Debris that was swept down with the rain was everywhere, and there was odor at every house because of the hot weather. The residents, who were managing to stay in their houses…

Houston Church, TX, U.S.

Zero-based Thinking

Historian Arnold J. Toynbee said, “If you cling to past success experiences, you will fail.” Alvin Toffler, a global futurist, warned: “To survive in the future, we must regard our past success as the most dangerous factor.” That is why we must throw away these opinions: “When I did it this way, I was successful,” “This is the best,” or “My experience is the best way.” Experience is a precious asset for sure. However, if we have blind faith in our own experience and knowledge, we can be betrayed by it, because time doesn’t stay in the past, and the world is constantly changing. So what we need is zero-based thinking. It means to think outside of the box, on…

Telegram

Arthur Conan Doyle, a British detective fiction writer, liked to play jokes. One day, he sent a telegram to his friends anonymously. Then he visited each of his friends’ houses one by one. The houses were all empty. It was because of the contents of the telegram he hurriedly sent. “All is disclosed. Flee at once!”

The Most Valuable Work

‘Is Jesus really God? Does God even exist?' Growing up in a Christian family, I attended a church during my school years, but as I went to high school and learned biology and evolution, I started to doubt God’s existence. In science, even a simple theory is followed by evidence that proves the fact. But for God, however, it seemed there was no evidence to prove His existence. I couldn’t understand the Bible and there were many difficult parts to believe. Though I couldn’t believe in God, I was barely keeping my faith by asking God to let me know if there is the absolute truth that can testify about Him clearly. After doubting for about four years, God, who…

Natnael Assefaw Seltene from Denver, CO, U.S.

The Easiest Way to Relax

When animals show off their power, they inflate their body and make it look as big as possible. When a man is filled with confidence, he lifts up his head and straightens up his shoulders; and when he is afraid or depressed, he crouches. With the same reason, athletes passing through the finish line first in a race raise their hands high. Inner feelings are expressed by external attitudes, but what is important is that our inner feelings are also influenced by our external attitudes. An experiment shows that when the test subjects take confident postures by straightening up their body like Wonder Woman, or putting both hands on their waist, or leaning their backs on the chair with their…

Like a Roly-poly Toy

A roly-poly toy never falls; even though it is pushed over, it bounces back up soon. The reason a roly-poly toy rights itself immediately though it seems to tumble is that its center of gravity is at the lower part. If the center of gravity is high, even a roly-poly toy cannot stand; its body will tilt to one side and fall on the ground no matter how hard it wants to stand. In the same way, if the center of our minds is set high, we cannot stabilize our faith; the higher the center goes, the quicklier we will fall. “Arrogance is feeling disappointed when our expectations are not met.” From the Teachings of Mother If we want to…