The Words of In Jin Moon from 2011
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The Words of In Jin Moon from 2011 |
1) In Jin Nim greeted everyone. She expressed how happy she was to be with us.
2) "We had a fantastic weekend with True Parents!" She thanked everyone from the bottom of her heart for responding in such a loving fashion -- when our True Parents called for the rally in Las Vegas. Our True Parents were overwhelmed by our heart, our participation, and our spirit of love. They were truly moved. Those who were lucky to be in the audience when True Father spoke -- he was overcome with emotion. In Jin Nim saw the first few seconds when he came on stage and the look of total delight, because he could be with his children once again. It was so beautiful to see. He was getting choked up in the middle of his speech. We listened to this 90-year- plus old man and what he has come to share with the world and where he would like the world to go together with him.
3) You cannot help but be moved by this man's persistence, commitment, and lifetime of devotion in service to God, to humanity, and to his children. Once again, In Jin Nim realized how blessed she is and how blessed all of us are to be in this time with the breaking news when we can accompany True Parents with our hearts and bodies and with our love, to fulfill the work that needs to be done. To have our True Parents with us here in America is a great blessing for this country.
4) Not only did we have our True Parents with us, but we also had our international president, In Jin Nim's younger brother Dr. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon. It was so wonderful to see this younger brother turn into this beautiful person, full of love and vision and a desire to serve his mankind, serve his movement, and serve his brothers and sisters.
5) For In Jin Nim it is always such a wonderful thing to have different members of her family there and to share in the ministry together. She feels that, having our True Parents there, and the spiritual head of our movement, they are together with our American brothers and sisters. It augurs well for all the things that we will be doing here together.
6) In Jin Nim also wanted to take this time to thank all the District Pastors for joining together in heart and -- when headquarters called for the 40-day condition in prayer for the unity of heart -- and to concentrate on the importance of what God is asking us to do at this time, working together with our True Parents and being united with our spiritual head. In Jin Nim felt that this 40 days of prayer prepared all of our hearts to receive our True Parents in the best way, and she believes our True Parents felt it. They were incredibly pleased and happy for America and In Jin Nim knows that True Father is continually giving many, many prayers for this great country of America.
7) At this incredibly difficult time in our world when we just witnessed and experienced, and continue to experience the tragedy unfolding in Japan with the great tsunami and earthquake, we realize that we are living at a cataclysmic time. So many things are taking place in our natural world as well as in the spiritual world and the world of our lives and many times in our minds. When our True Father started this year off, emphasizing the continued oneness with our Heavenly Parents in heaven and True Parents, together with us, in a way we cannot help but meditate and ruminate on what this word unity is all about.
8) For In Jin Nim the word unity is an incredibly profound and interesting word. "Unity," is almost a constant reminder that, U (you) ni (need) T (True Parents) -- we need our True Parents in our lives. Many of us in our life of faith seek a wonderful relationship with God, and we do that through prayer, meditation, and fasting. But the incredibly profound thing of having a beautiful couple, a man and a woman representing in a physical form our Heavenly Parent up in heaven -- is that through them we can experience what it is like to really be with our Heavenly Parent. We can really see and experience what it means to attend our God and our parents. We can experience and learn from their parental heart what it means to truly love.
9) In Jin Nim believes that the greatest gift that the Divine Principle and our True Parents bring to us, as humanity, is this concept and chance to experience this thing called parental love. We cannot really fully understand God if we don't become parents. We cannot fully understand how much God loves us if we have never loved another more than ourselves. If we have never loved the other more than -- thinking about our self preservation all the time.
10) With our True Parents, and understanding them as the earthly and physical manifestation of our God, our Heavenly Parent up in heaven -- we have this chance to see and witness and experience the parental heart at work.
11) When In Jin Nim thinks about our True Parents and how incredibly important it is for all of us to develop this parental heart of God, this parental heart of True Parents ourselves -- she again finds herself ruminating and meditating on this word, unity.
12) One of her favorite painters, Vincent van Gogh, said something very interesting. It's a saying that stuck with her throughout the years, and as she attended the Las Vegas rally and saw the wonderful video about all the work that Father is doing to end world hunger through all the different programs and boats that he's designing for the sea.
13) She very much looks at her father as an incredible spiritual leader, as an unbelievably loving father -- but also he is a fantastic fisherman. He single-handedly introduced sushi to the American people. When we first started out in the seventies, raw fish was something that, when you ask people if they would like to have it, they looked at you as though you were insane. But now, with all the fisheries that True Father established, and all the Japanese restaurants that he nurtured along the way -- in a way the sushi, and the delight in raw fish, has become something people look forward to in their daily lives. And the boats that he designed, after all he is a scientist, the kind of mechanical engineering that goes into designing fantastic boats for fishing and recreation, is something that Father gave, his creative efforts, for the sake of the world. And when they were fishing for a deep Sea tuna her father came up with the concept of line fishing instead of using fishing poles. These are all things that Father introduced which today fishermen and fisher woman take for granted.
14) When In Jin Nim thought about our Father and how important the sea is to our True Father, she remembers this quote from Vincent van Gogh -- "I said a long time ago, fisherman are well aware of the dangers at sea. And fishermen are well aware of extreme storms, but none of these dangers are sufficient enough to keep a fisherman on shore."
15) When In Jin Nim heard about this, she thought about it quite a bit and many times throughout her life of faith. In a way, the fisherman's job, or purpose, is to catch fish. Fisherman are well aware that in order to catch the fish, no matter how good your intentions are, if you don't get off the shore and onto the open sea you are not going to come back with a basket of goodies, or fresh fish to feed your family, your community, and your cities.
16) Vincent van Gogh was talking about how fisherman know the dangers of the sea, how incredibly pounding and pulverizing the storms at sea can be, but the fisherman has a purpose in going out to the open sea, they have a purpose in going out there -- to catch a fish. And not to just catch a fish but to bring it back home. And, in order to do that you cannot begin to start thinking about fishing without leaving the shore.
17) When In Jin Nim thought about this, many of us, in our life of faith -- as we call for -- in a way -- working together with the total package of what God wants to give to our movement and to our community -- In Jin Nim has been asking the District Pastors and all the leaders and state leaders to work together with this total package of this ministry (Lovin' life) -- to bring about -- reaching the nation, the American movement and also America itself. What she was asking for was to accept the total package, or the total blessing that God wants to give us, by beginning to realize that the gift that God has for us is already swimming out there in the open sea. But what we need to do, is we need to leave our shores, and many times the shores can be the place of foundation, a place that we can stand upon. But many times the shore, metaphorically can represent an island of sorts, an island of our insecurities, an island of our fears, that keep us in bondage to those very things that we hope to escape.
18) And so Vincent van Gogh is saying, fishermen knowing all the danger and all the storms, they still have to leave the shore. In a way, what he is saying -- is in order to fully reap a harvest, the blessing that God has prepared for us, we have to be willing to leave our security blankets. We have to be willing to leave our old habits. We have to be willing to leave, maybe our comfort zones that we are very very much attached to.
19) The interesting thing about human beings is that over time we can become attached to anything. We can become attached to people who abuse us as well as being attached to people who love us. And sometimes God asks us, or calls us, to leave our comfort zone or to leave our habitual ways of doing things, or to leave that shore or island of insecurities and fears and face the unknown, because God wants something better for us.
20) But, regardless of how much God wants to give us great blessings, if we cannot unify with the gift or the blessing that God wishes to bestow upon us, in our inability to leave this island of insecurity and fear, we will always live almost paralyzed lives -- with the very success and prosperity that we so desire, because we refused to leave the shore.
21) When In Jin Nim thinks about this saying of Vincent van Gogh, what he is alluding us to is not just our inability to leave our insecurities and fears -- to unite with God and accept what He is willing and has already prepared for us, but in a way Vincent van Gogh is also saying -- when you leave the shore and you are on a boat -- you know many times the boat is symbolic of the church -- we can understand the boat to be like any other fishing boat that leaves the shore for the open sea. We go with the added expectation that we are going to work hard together, we're going to take in the wind, we are going to ride the wind, and we're going to bring back something wonderful for our families.
22) The thing about God, and the thing about God giving us this chance to work together in a small boat, as a family, as a church, as a movement, as a nation -- our True Father, Rev Sun Myung Moon -- often speaks about the family as the cornerstone for world peace, but he also cautioned us that the family also has the power to destroy the very thing that we want to create.
23) When True Father talks about the family as being the textbook of love, and in a way encourages us to work through the different relationships in the family, to rub up against each other, to really tone down the sharp edges that we all have -- truly loving each other. The incredible thing is the beautiful image of the sale -- and In Jin Nim loves to watch the beautiful sailboats going out to sea. They are massive. They have huge beautiful sails that catch the wind. She often felt, having had five children of her own, that whenever she looks at these beautiful majestic sailboats taking in the wind and letting the wind drive it to wherever it needs to go -- it reminded her of the parental heart, the heart of God, and the love of God, they are very much like that wind in the sail, in that it's invisible.
24) God is not telling us, "Look how powerful I am, look how glorious I am." God simply is. He simply loves us the way we are. And even though we cannot see him we are breathing Him and Her each and every day. And even though we cannot see the wind -- we can certainly feel the wind if we open up our hearts. But better than that, if we can be the great big sail that can catch this beautiful heart of God in this beautiful heart of our True Parents -- in the spirit of living for the sake of others, of service to humanity, in knowing that we are going to take our boats out to sea and bring back something wonderful for our families. Then we realize that God is always with us.
25) And if we do not see, it is because we have not opened up our spiritual eyes. And we realize that God is always there to support and empower us. The wind is blowing around, through, in an out of us -- we just need to harness this power of true love that God shares with all of us. Instead of thinking God is not here because I cannot see, perhaps it is God asking us to open up our spiritual eyes, to open up our hearts and to feel the wind, to feel the support that God has for all of us in our lives -- and not just feel the support, but gratefully ride, ride the wind so that you are not only gliding on the water, but in essence you are flying as well.
26) That is the parental heart of God. The beauty of a parent is that God doesn't raise us up at his children just to tear us down. God raises us up so that we can continue to soar and fly. God is telling us that even if we do not see him every day, He and She is all around us and all we need to do is tap into our hearts, open up our spiritual eyes, begin to feel what it is to be that eternal sons and daughters, that divine creature -- and start being grateful for the wind beneath our wings. And instead of complaining for not enough wind or not enough guidance or not enough of this and that, truly let ourselves ride the wind that is blowing us to this place, to this glorious place, towards God's heart -- to experience God's love, to be part of that one family of God.
27) And if we can do this in unity with our Heavenly Father then there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. And when you think about what Vincent van Gogh was saying -- he was saying, "yes there are lots of difficulties out there, you will face trials and tribulations out there. Every fisherman knows you love good days, beautiful days, classic serene days on the ocean, as well as stormy and vicious days on the ocean."
28) In Jin Nim remembers when she was 12 years old there was one season when she went deep-sea fishing with her father. It was one of those days when you could not tell the difference between the sky and the ocean. It all seemed to become one. And all the things on the boat were being tossed around. Human beings were being tossed around like mosquitoes -- and you felt absolutely helpless. But Father, he was the captain of the boat -- and Father said do not be afraid. And everybody, regardless of whatever they might have been feeling -- some were knocked down because baskets were thrown towards them, trying to make sure the fishing poles didn't fall in the ocean, it was total mayhem, but smack in the middle of this incredibly cataclysmic event -- there was our captain, our True Parents -- there was our True Father, solid as a rock because he knew that God was with him. He was solid as a rock even as the waves were tossing them to and fro, holding on for dear life, and father was solid with no fear. Almost totally surrendering to God knowing that God would take care of him and his daughter and the other fisherman on the boat.
29) Having this clear leader, clear Captain, calm everybody down in the midst of the mayhem. That was when In Jin Nim realized how incredibly important it is to be unified with God's chosen representative. When God asked us to unite with our True Parents who are as solid as a rock -- in that day she remembers, long ago, when she thought she was going to die and she asked her father are we going to die and he smiled at her and grabbed her hand and said "don't be afraid, I am here" and that was all she needed to hear. And so regardless how scary the world can be, our True Parents are here -- do not be afraid. And as scary, as difficult as dealing with all our insecurities might be, as long as we are unified in unity with our True Parents there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
30) When we are on this boat -- and you know this country of America, True Father has given you a woman captain -- and unfortunately that's a difficult thing for a lot of people. When Father asked In Jin Nim to be the captain of the boat when she was 16 years old with four other teenage girls -- they were very much laughed at and ridiculed.
31) She comes to her position knowing that she is not worthy. She knew she was unworthy to be a captain, but somehow for some reason Father wanted to give her the experience, of throwing her out there onto the open sea where the storms are violent, where the sea is dangerous. But father wanted her to experience what that was all about. And on the sea one of the things she realize -- it really doesn't matter who your captain is.
32) But when you have a captain, whether you like the captain or not, if you are going to successfully go out and come back with your life intact, or better yet if you want to successfully go out to the open sea and reap the harvest that is waiting for us and come back safely to shore -- you cannot do that when the boat is not unified with the captain. Lives can be lost, people can be hurt, we might not find our way home, a couple of degrees off and you will not make it back home, you will be lost at sea.
33) This unity of heart is incredibly important for our survival. In this time when our movement is going through different transitions, different ways of doing things -- regardless of whether you think the captain is a good one or a bad one there has to be a sense of unity. There has to be an acceptance, "okay this trip, whether I like this captain or not, I'm going to do my best to unite so that we can go back safely to shore after our successful run." Can you imagine if you're on the open sea and perhaps it's a beautiful day, but let's say there is a crew of four of five people, and let's say maybe there is a first mate who is much stronger, who has more experience fishing, and he begins to question the leadership of the captain who happens to be a woman. Once that kind of atmosphere of criticism starts flowing and circulating on the open boat, you are going to have absolute mayhem and somebody is going to be hurt.
34) If you have a problem with your captain, the best thing and the truly loving thing to do is to say, "hey Capt. can I have a word with you. You asked us to do this and that, but could we do it another way? What do you think? Do you think maybe this trip we might do it this way?" If you really love the captain, if you are really thinking of the team, that is what every member of the team should do. If you have a problem with the captain go to the captain and say, "Captain, maybe we should do it this way." But the minute this first mate who is disgruntled with the captain starts talking to the person next to him, "What's the matter with this captain? Is the captain PMSing today. I don't like the captain. What is wrong with her? What a control freak." And you start talking like that without regard for what the captain might be going through, or what the welfare of the boat is all about, then you start creating dissension, and factions. And when the team is torn apart into factions and different interest groups you cannot operate as a team.
35) Imagine this person sitting next to the first mate, when the first mate says "what's wrong with the captain is she PMSing, what's the matter with her, who would put a bleeping woman on the boat?" Can you imagine if this other person turned to the first mate and said, "hey brother you got a problem with the captain, take it to the captain. Why are you harping your negativity and your criticism to all of us? We have to stay united." That would have been the loving thing to do. Instead of taking that, and just throwing it back to the first mate -- how wonderful it would be if that person looks at the other people on the boat and says, "Wow our captain is getting it pretty rough by the first mate. Why don't we show our support. Let's see what a little love can do to the spirit of the boat." If the boat started working like that -- instead of this third person getting on the radio that speaks to the whole fleet on the ocean saying, "The first mate says our captain is PMSing, what is wrong with our captain?!"
36) In a way this third person has an incredible responsibility to be that agent of change. You can be the agent of change by taking the problem to its source. Many times the person who's complaining is complaining because they don't really want to fix the problem. Because, if you really want to fix the problem you take it back to the captain, back to your central figure out of love and care. You take it back with respect and honor and you maintain the sanctity of the boat and the spirit of the boat so that you can work as a team and come back with a rich harvest that God wants all of us to reap from the ocean.
37) When van Gogh is talking about going out, leaving our shores of insecurity and fears, and we join something that is worthwhile for your community, what van Gogh is asking us, if you really think about it, is to begin to harvest, begin to gather together. When you look at the word "together," it's like two people put together -- working harmoniously in cooperation and respect and honor of each other.
38) If we can harvest beautifully together on this boat -- that might be a family, that might be a church, that might be a movement, then we can do extraordinary things. This is a reminder for those of us, who at times in our lives find ourselves so preoccupied -- like the Pharisees back in the days of Jesus Christ. They were so consumed with the law, with their own knowledge of the text that they could not open up their spiritual eyes to realize that God had sent them His holy son Jesus Christ. They thought they knew better, they thought they were more educated, and they probably looked at Jesus Christ as some wandering guy who came up and is now delivering beautiful sermons, inspiring the multitudes -- and the only thing they can say is, "he doesn't correctly cite the text." What about how he is inspiring and encouraging people to love each other like they have never done before.
39) It's a reminder for us not to be so caught up in ourselves, not to be so caught up in what we think we are. We might be incredible lawyers. In fact one of In Jin Nim's friends is one of the best litigators in Boston. He went to the best college, best law school, editor of law review. You name it he's done it. He is one of these people that has it all -- tall, handsome, extraordinarily smart, but he hasn't found God -- not when she knew him a while back. He was like this beautiful Christmas present. You know the feeling when you go to the Christmas tree to open up your Christmas present and perhaps someone mixes things up and you ended up getting an empty box that has beautiful wrapping but nothing inside. That is what he was like. In terms of external accomplishments he was perfect. He was like a beautiful gigantic box with the perfect ribbon, gold dust here and there, perfect -- but because he was not connected to God, he was not filled with a relationship with God and understanding of who he was, that he was God' son. He was concentrating on what he was. He was this fantastic, smart, up-and-coming, awesome litigator. In Jin Nim remembers he argued one case in court and afterwards when the court adjourned he spoke to her and said, "wasn't I fantastic?! I was stupefied. I felt it. I felt the chills. Did you see how I held the courtroom in the palm of my hands. I could hear a pin drop. Did you see? I had them eating out of the palm of my hands." And he said, "I look good uh? You think the ladies like the what I'm wearing today?" When he said that to her he looked like this beautiful Christmas package, but so engulfed in what he was. He was not thinking about who he was. He was thinking about his own success, his own brilliance. He was high by sucking on the cesspool of hubris, he was smoking his own success and feeling extraordinarily arrogant about it. He was so consumed experiencing at that moment what he was, he forgot why he was there in the first place, why he was defending this person. He forgot that he is actually a servant of the court. It took him many many years before some tragedy in his life and he lost everything. He was no longer that handsome articulate person. He was in a car accident and his face was paralyzed and parts of his body were paralyzed. Here was this once handsome face now totally deformed.
40) When In Jin Nim met him after the accident, after he had been through therapy, he said to her, "I thought I was so slick, the man, God's gift to the world and to womankind. But God took that away from me. He took all the success away from me. He took what I was wearing, what I was, my external superficiality away from me -- this accident broke me away from myself. This accident left me naked, homeless, and hungry and for the first time I realized what I am going to do with my life. Is my life worth less now that I don't have these things to wear anymore, or was I meant for something greater? Perhaps to my own tragedy I could come to a deeper realization of why I'm here, what I was put on earth for, and maybe make something beautiful out of something seemingly tragic." And he said, "I had it all I thought, but when I thought I had it all I knew what I was but I didn't know who I was. But, after this accident, I no longer have what I was, but now I know." And through the tragedy of his life -- he found God and he realized that God didn't give him all his talents and an exceptional mind to feel good about himself.
41) If God gave you an exceptional mind, gifted you with an exceptional talent, God gave that to you so that in your keeping you can keep it with a grateful and an honorable heart. Do your best to cultivate it and give it back to the world so that you can raise up your world to be a better place.
42) When In Jin Nim thinks about this time of the breaking news, and our True Parents are always talking about 2013 and the importance of getting things done -- sharing the breaking news of what an incredible opportunity it is to have our True Parents here with us. We not only can experience true love and true life, but now we can partake of true lineage and graft onto the heavily lineage through the process of marriage, the Blessing, and actually have an opportunity to create an experience -- ideal families of our own who our True Father has taught is the cornerstone, the corner block of every society.
43) In this time of the breaking news we have a chance to make right the world. When In Jin Nim visited Washington DC and that the beautiful brothers and sisters of Washington DC who welcomed them (In Jin Nim and the LLM) with such loving and open arms -- she shared with them about Washington DC. Father says there's a lot in a name. "Washing," we need to start washing the capital of America. We need to wash it, not with greed, not with power, not with knowledge and skills, but we need to start washing it with the power of true love, with a parental heart and help direct and guide America to be that great country of God that it was originally meant to be.
44) American no longer sits in the minds of a lot of academics, as what Charles Dickens once said, that Washington DC is a city of magnificent intentions. Good intentions are not enough. Good intentions need to be carried forth substantially through rubbing up against each other, that truly loving, not just talking the talk like the good politicians do in Washington DC all the time. Anybody can talk a good talk, but actually start living and going through and start washing the beautiful capital city of this great country so that America can truly be that powerful blessed country that is ready, not just to enjoy, but to harvest its blessing and share it with the rest of the world.
45) One of the things that In Jin Nim likes to share with their children -- "I didn't choose you. I did not choose to be your mom. You did not choose me to be your mom. But guess what, we are in this boat called the family and in this boat there is a captain, first mate, a cook, there's a whole lot of different people, but we need to work together.
46) You might not be the most happy with the family your with, but the whole point of creating ideal families -- is you yourself become that agent of change. If you think your parents are not good enough, then you be better, you be that agent of change to effectuate a beautiful harmony of change in your environment.
47) In Jin Nim has had to remind her children, what does she do when they get sick? "You take us to the doctor." And if the body is strong enough to overcome, the doctor doesn't give you medication, but if you're really really sick what does the doctor do? "He gives me antibiotics." And what does the doctor tell you when he prescribes antibiotics? What is the one thing you must not do? "We must finish the medication and don't stop after one day, or two days, and say "it doesn't work." If it is a 10 day prescription, give the medication a chance to work and take it religiously, take it in the spirit of unity. And if you do that in unity with a doctor's prescription you will get better."
48) Antibiotics is an example of what we can and cannot do, but if we take that into our own understanding of faith and how we are to be with our True Parents -- maybe True Parents ask us to do something we cannot understand. But sometimes God is asking us to take this medicine which is going to take a little bit of time. You cannot see the results the first day. You may not see the results the third day or fourth or fifth day. But if you unite and give it a chance by the eighth or ninth day you know it's working. And by the time it's done you know that you are well on the way to becoming a healthy contented individual -- hopefully no longer called a patient.
49) When the Bible reminds us in Psalm 118, verse 24 -- "be grateful for the day that God has given. Rejoice and be glad in it." God is saying, "I have given you everything you need. I have given you True Parents. I've given you a great captain. I have given you great sails. You are my beautiful sails on the sailboat. Now, open up your heart, open up your mind, open up your arms, and take me in, child. Do not be afraid to leave your island of insecurities and fears, because if you can be united with me, for the first time in your life you will start to experience what it feels like to have real love, genuine love, true love in your life. That is the greatest thing about being the eternal sons and daughters in that we can partake in this incredible thing called true love flowing through our veins.
50) On this beautiful Sunday morning please be united. In unity we need our True Parents, and please love them with your heart and mind and with everything that we are, and know that all the great things emphasized in the Bible and all the great things that have been prophesies by the great prophets are waiting for us to harvest if we only take the chance, take the time, to go out there, leave our shores of insecurities behind, let the winds fill our sails, and be willing to harvest this glorious, glorious blessing together.
51) God bless you and thank you.