Hyung Jin Moon
January 6, 2008
Some members say that they cannot make time for the family because they are so busy working. I want to ask you, did you see the TV drama "Chumon?" Many of you say that you have seen it. Then, is there any excuse for not making time for your family?
We need to succeed in every part of our life. Not so that we can boast about it, but because God blessed us to live a life of victory. God did not give a life of failure to blessed families but a life of victory. On the way to success there is only one obstacle, myself.
Therefore, it is very important to manage myself’ Father said that I might become the biggest devil, Satan, and enemy. It is important to train myself’ and make myself strong to prevent it from becoming the enemy. I have to give power to me, become a friend of mine, and inspire me. When we live our lives, we desire to be encouraged by others. However, we can not expect other people to always encourage us. So we have to learn how to encourage ourselves.
People usually want to speak about how many difficulties there were in their lives, or how many mountains of hardships they overcame. However, instead of talking about my difficulties, we should talk about God who was together with me and who overcame the mountains of difficulties. We should tell how great God was, and then how big I became by overcoming those difficulties. However big the adversity we confront, we should always overcome the adversity. I have to see such determination in myself and have confidence internally.
Everyone encounters obstacles in his or her life. Everyone has pains. Whatever you may do, there may be a painful time spiritually and physically. However, through your time of endurance, your victory will become more valuable. A real victor can overcome adversities. If we escape from the difficulties, making excuses it actually kills our future and our blessing. To give up might be easier in a sense.
The farther you go, the more obstacles you encounter. There will be many challenges. There will be many mountains you have to climb. Such is life. When you overcome these challenges you become wise and train your mind.
Have you ever climbed a mountain? It might be difficult during the climb. But once we stand on top, we feel good. "I conquered this mountain!" We can feel the joy of achievement.
By the way, after reaching a mountain summit, we have to go down. It is easy to praise God on top of a mountain; but it is not as easy to praise God while going down or when we look up at the next big mountain. Everyone can praise God and thank God in the good times of his / her life. Everyone can do it. Even children can do it.
However, in times of trials, when people betray us or take advantage of us, it is more difficult than anything to be thankful. In such moments, we go through trials. When you are betrayed by the person whom you loved and devoted yourself to, it is difficult for you to love and trust others again. However, even in such times, we have to be able to love people.
Everyone! Love does not mean a certain feeling. If we think love is a certain feeling or emotion, we cannot find true love. Love is a practice. Love is not a noun but a verb. Some people tend to say that they cannot feel the love between husband and wife. They tend to doubt the love between husband and wife. However, they do not know what love is. Love does not mean only a certain feeling.
After you have your children, there will surely be a time when you are disappointed with the children. Your children sometimes do not listen to your words. Actually, it is children who give you the hardest trials. In a sense, children make the parents grow. I learned a lot from my children. When we raise our children, our attitude should not change. It is not good if our attitude toward our children is changeable, sometimes good and sometimes bad. We have to love them consistently.
If you want to be blessed in your life, you should start by working on your mind. Listen to this lesson:
Be careful of your thinking. If you are not careful of your thinking, it becomes words. Be careful of your words. If you are not careful of your words, it becomes your action. Be careful of your action. If you are not careful of your action, it becomes your habit. Be careful of your habit. If you are not careful of your habit, it becomes your character. Be careful of your character. If you are not careful of your character, it becomes your life. Be careful of your life. If you are not careful of your life, it becomes your destiny.
In short, everything starts from your mind and thinking.
The longer you walk the public way, the more obstacles the Archangel (Satan) will put in your life. Never give up because of obstacles. In a sense, we can become bigger and better people through the obstacles. If front of the obstacles make us give up who is happy? It is the Archangel (Satan).
You might have an experience like this: When we go to school, there is a kid who bullies us. When the kid bullies us, if we cry timidly, the kid will bully us more -- just for the fun of it. However, if we say to the bully, "It doesn't matter what you do, it is nothing to me. Even though you hit me and make fun of me, you cannot take my joy," the kid will leave you. These bullies may annoy us at first, but if we show them an immovable attitude, they will go in search of a weaker person.
The Archangel (Satan) is the same as the bully. When we aggressively confront the obstacles in our life, saying, "It’s nothing to me. Even though you send me more troubles, I can will still bring victory," then the Archangel (Satan) will surrender. The more you bring victory, the severer Satan’s trial becomes. However, if you were never attacked, you would not get a bigger blessing. You can share the blessing to other people. Everything starts from your mind.
As we can feel during meditation, our minds need to be trained. Our minds are not able to control our bodies. Instead, we are following our bodies. Therefore, we need to train our minds. We need to make our minds strong. Even though other people might try to weaken our minds, we should not be shaken.
Actually, those who try to shake our minds are those whose minds are weaker than anyone else's. Therefore, if I am never shaken, they will give up, and go to find a mentally weak person. If our minds are strong, it is impossible for us to fail. Evil people cannot feel evil power and stimulation through attacking us. Instead they just reflect themselves.
Whichever way you go; the way of church leaders, getting other jobs, or becoming teachers, it is important to have internal strength. Everything changes in our lives. Our situations are sometimes good, but sometimes bad. Our relationships with other people are also sometimes good and sometimes bad. Our life is uncertain. Therefore, we need to have solid minds at our center.
It is very difficult to find peace in uncertain circumstances. In the uncertain circumstances, people often feel apprehensive. If we continuously feel fear, we might live our whole lives in fear. We might become anxious about everything, thinking, "I did this, but if it goes wrong, what do I do? What do I do if people laugh at me?"
We need to accept the uncertainty of our lives as they are. We need to accept the uncertainty with a clear mind instead of a fearful one. Please think that your can start a new beginning at any moment. If we can aggressively accept the changing situation coming at us without feeling fearfulness, and if we can lead our lives with internal strength, we can bring victory in any situation. You might have difficult moments in your life, but you will bring victory by overcoming the mountains.