Session 5 - My Children: For Me, the World, or God?

ICEBREAKERS:

Choose one:

When I think of my children (or of having them in the future) I think of…

Describe your experience with the goal you set from our last meeting. Did you come closer to God through pursuing it? How?

READINGS:

Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and have dominion over it and subdue it.
(Genesis 1:28)

Adam and Eve… should have become husband and wife, forming one unit. They should have multiplied by having children, and established the four position foundation centered on God. When a man and woman have actualized the Second Blessing of God (multiply) this becomes a good object for God’s joy and (the husband’s and wife’s joy).
(Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Divine Principle, pp. 43–44)

Children are the fruit of the love of the mother and father. Children embody their parents' love, life, and lineage. Little children often say “This is mine,” but parents are the origin of everything that children refer to as their own. Parents are the root and the trunk.

Parents are the primary source of love for children. The parent-child relationship is vertical, and the husband-wife relationship is horizontal. The lines of these two relationships should cross at right angles. The relationship among siblings forms a third dimension, a front-to-back axis. In the God-centered family, vertical and horizontal loves are united as one.
(Rev. Sun Myung Moon, November 20, 1999)

Essentially there are four great loves: parents’ love, brothers and sisters’ love, husband and wife’s love, and children’s love. True family is the smallest unit where these four great loves can be experienced. This true family is the foundation of true human love and true happiness. It is the place from which true life and true lineage sprout forth. It is the training ground and school of love that prepares people for life in a peaceful, prosperous, and loving society, nation, and world.
(Rev. Sun Myung Moon, June 11, 1998)

DISCUSSION:

What do the above readings say about the value of having children?

What is your experience with the value of children, either by having your own, by being a child in your youth, or by working with children as an adult?

Describe a time when you saw God in (your or other) children?

READINGS:

God is in a parental relationship to His children. As a parent, He invests and forgets. If you want to secure a love relationship between God, yourself, and your spouse, you can offer true love to God. There is only one way to reach God: through the practice of true love. The practice of true love means investing yourselves over and over again, whole-heartedly.
(Rev. Sun Myung Moon, November 19, 1998)

True parents do not tell their children, “Once you become children of true filial piety, do not become loyal citizens.” True parents should teach children to give their family to the world by following the way of a loyal citizen in service to the nation and in service to the world. Then parents should teach their children to give the world in service to Heaven and Earth, and to even give up Heaven and Earth to God.
(Rev. Sun Myung Moon, June 16, 1997)

Essentially there are four great loves: parents' love, brothers and sisters' love, husband and wife's love, and children's love. True family is the smallest unit where these four great loves can be experienced. This true family is the foundation of true human love and true happiness. It is the place from which true life and true lineage sprout forth. It is the training ground and school of love that prepares people for life in a peaceful, prosperous, and loving society, nation, and world.
(The Family and World Peace, June 11, 1998)

As husband and wife, it is only when we gain the victory with our children, together as a family, that we can say for the first time that we are a family that has realized the ideals and purpose of creation. Unificationism teaches that this purpose is not achieved by an individual alone; it can only be achieved in the family, together with the children.
(Rev. Sun Myung Moon)

When there is oneness in the individual, there will be harmony in the family. When there is harmony in the family, there will be unity in society. When there it unity in society, there will be peace in the world
(Confucius)

DISCUSSION:

The readings suggest that a good society and world come from good families. Think of a time in your life when you saw that this is true.

Would you like to see your children existing for a higher purpose than just your own enjoyment or sense of purpose? If so, why?

How could you see your family benefiting society? You can answer this based on childhood experiences or present ones.

ACTION STEP:

Set a goal for the next week to improve your attitude toward children: If you are a parent, toward your own children. If you are single, set a goal to move your ideas about marriage and family to a “higher” level.