"H," (husband) the reason that you don't feel great strength tonight, even though you know I want to speak, is that you have not been working regularly with me in this way for several weeks. And so, as you know, then you fall back into a lack of personal confidence, but regardless of that, I do respect and hear your desire to come back to our regular communication. And you need this. You have, in the past month especially, been very busy, I know. And at night, consequently, you are tired and you feel in some way almost hesitant to have such an intense experience because you are emotionally and physically worn out. But in this new year, you know that it's not going to get any lighter, that, if anything, your desire is to have much work and to really take on big responsibility with your work. So then are we to completely fall out of communication because of your work? Isn't that the problem with so many people in the world, that they have some rich experience with Me in the beginning of their lives and then later on they fall into so many different things that take them away from Me? And yet if your father is standing right next to you but you're too busy to even see him, isn't this wrong? So you tell me what you want to do. I never go away from you but, yes, I can experience discouragement when you let other things come between our communication. You know very well that you need it regularly to maintain power, perspective, clearness of your mind and heart. So it's all for your benefit. I'm not asking you to lose anything. I'm asking you only to work together with Me, and it's completely for the good. Now, you know this and I know you know it. But please find a way to make a regularity in our work together so that you can continue to witness.

Now, in your letter at Christmas time, you could really witness, and this is wonderful. You could richly share with your brothers and sisters all over the country the meaning that you felt last year. And no doubt you opened up many people's hearts and minds and opened their eyes to something that they wish to have. So no doubt in the coming days you may be getting letters or notes that say "I enjoyed your letter" or someone on the telephone saying "I really was moved by your letter." Okay, this is your chance to share, but doesn't it sound strange if next year you tell people in your letter about the wonderful experience you had with Heavenly Father a year and a half ago? It's a little strange isn't it? You want to be able to share the experience you're having now. That is a living testimony that you can share. That's why many people in Unification Church are worn out, because although they might have had rich experiences in the 70's or 80's or even a couple of years ago, if they're not having them now they don't feel meaning. And just memories will not bring the Kingdom of God. So please understand that I want to go on - as you - shared with your children tonight. I'm not going anywhere. It is you who get involved with other things. So please don't take this as a scolding. I want simply to express my desire to you. And you have to adjust according to your level of responsibility. That responsibility is going up now, even with your job, and if later on you become involved with community affairs or other things on different levels, then what will you do? You see, many of these men, for example, or women for that fact, who take on more and more responsibilities in this world become so busy that they lose their center. Even the religious - type people. And that's when they fall into corrupt situations. So that's why when you look at some of these senators and leadership people and then there's a big scandal... Again, they become full of their own activity, but they lost the higher center and just ended up centering on their own date book, schedule book. And this is when they lose their effectiveness. Even a man who doesn't believe in Me, if he has a deep sense of love for his nation, a patriotism for his country, can bring great good in the world. So it is that higher purpose or higher focus that gives people great power in their lives. And this is what I want you to have. And this is what will build in your lives as you cultivate this relationship. So please understand and discuss with each other, because this is really in the realm of your five percent. Okay. I'm not going to make a schedule for you. You need to discuss together what's the best way to do this. I'm not asking for every day but, again, a regular rhythm of communication. Is it too much? No, I don't think so.

Now you are my beloved children, and I too am thrilled by our experience of this past one year. It's been almost one year now. But I want to continue and to grow and develop that relationship and work through our relationship to try to build My relationship with others, your brothers and sisters too.

Your opportunity is wherever you find the opening. That's the true meaning of witnessing, as you know. It's not just doing it because you should have a certain number of people every month or some external quota. But you know how it is when you're having a rich experience and you feel just so natural sharing in so much love and joy, in sharing out of your real experience of this time. Now, I want to leave that and ask you to go ahead and make your own realistic plan as to how to best carry this out.

This year you are touching on an important point when you say you want to find a way to allow My goodness, to allow My spirit and heart to work through you more fully. It is indeed true that the idea of being good for your Heavenly Father and then being rewarded by His hand on your head or some kind of reward... this is still on a very childish level. My relationship with you as parent and child is a little bit different than an earthly parent because the earthly parent is a human being like yourself. They have their own five percent to fulfill. They don't work through you, as they have their own responsibility to fulfill, just as you do.

In one sense you're all standing on the same line. But in the case of My relationship with you as your Divine Parent, it is different because I alone carry that ninety-five percent that goes with your so-called five percent. And so I do wish to work through you. And it is when your and My will and hearts are in good union that I can do that. So it's not me alone who's working; it is also your goodness. But your goodness knows its true maturity when it becomes a base for My goodness. That is the powerful thing. It's like a small drop of water - did you ever see when it becomes very close with a large drop of water, it suddenly - whoosh - goes together. Did you ever see that on the window? Yes. So the small drop of water only contains so much moisture, but when it comes so close to the large drop, it suddenly almost jumps onto the large drop, unites with it, and suddenly all of that goodness is but one goodness. All of that water is but one water. You can't find the little drop anymore in the larger mass of water.

Do you understand? You can't find that little drop anymore because it became part of the larger water. So it's the same thing as the union with Me. When you become a part of my goodness and when we work together in that way so that this is a conscious cooperation, then there is no greater joy than to share in this way. Then the ninety-five and five percent go together to make one hundred percent, and truly they are not meant to be separate. Many members are still so concerned about their five percent, that it has been very much like little children just trying to make themselves neat and happy and smiling for their daddy or mommy, and almost independently trying to be good and bright, and then expecting that perhaps there will be some reward. But this is still a very childish level of goodness, and it's very self-centered finally. So it is only when the person can start to try to see through My eyes, through prayer, and ultimately through this kind of communication, that you can begin to unite your goodness with My goodness, and finally you're not going to find self-righteousness coming from this kind of person.

There is a higher righteousness that wants to be done. And when that person can lose himself in that higher righteousness, in the higher goodness, can lose his own position in that higher influence, then this is the real meaning of goodness. So in one sense you know clearly who you are and what you should do, but in another sense you have to lose yourself in My higher goodness. Do you understand this? Please realize the importance of this.

The problem of history, again, is when religious people have been so taken by their own goodness, by their own righteousness that absolutely they will start to compare, start to become arrogant. And these same people are very concerned about doing the right thing, but they're like the little children who dress up and look bright and smile and show such a good face to their parents, but then turn around and hit their brother or sister very hard and be insincere. Without realizing it, in the name of wanting to be good for God, they have become self-centered and then end up hurting or even killing others. So this is the situation of many members in the church. And from that position there is no other path but decline. So, again, to be that little drop that unites with the large mass of water is very, very critical. Do you understand that point I want to make here? That is how you can indeed be a path for My goodness, for My love, for the parental heart, and lose yourself for that.

That's the awesome and greatest joy for you, because you can begin to be free of your own ego or of reflecting on how you did something good or how you should be thanked or respected for what you did. All of this is slavery to yourself, and your life becomes very miserable. That's why sometimes people don't find religious lives attractive, because they see religious people who have that kind of thinking, and they feel "I never want to be that way." On the other hand, if you practice, or if you begin to understand what I am talking about, this is the most attractive type of force. Because whether people recognize this is God or not, they feel something through that person that is undeniably attractive. That's the real witness! That's the real force that can save the world! So however much you want to talk Principle or speak about the messiah, if you're still on that level of the little child trying to be good for its parent, it is not enough. This is one secret of why many members are tired now and why there are a lot of Cain/Abel problems in the Church, because My spirit is not easily coming through.

I do want to speak about service. And I want you to focus in this year on the meaning of service. Service is so critical at this time in history. There are so many needs that people have on so many levels. And if you will try to discover, in the coming months, deeper meanings in the realm of service, you will find much opportunity to witness in the way that I have been speaking about for the past ten minutes. Are you with me? This service is not merely service of an earthly variety, but I want you to try to become more sensitive in service. For example, seeing someone whose heart is down or who has an emotional burden - how can you serve that person? How can you lift them up? Not like just helping a little baby temporarily, but how can you really reach that person? This again is what true witnessing is about. And you are going to have many opportunities to serve coming to you this year. I will send the people to you because I am working now with you, and I want to establish a powerful force of service and love in this community. It has not been easy for Me up to this time because that spirit is rare. By the nature of your experiences of the past year, you have been discovering this force. And, therefore, where else do I want to take the people except where that force is active? So realize that I will give you many opportunities this year. And please remember what I say tonight, because when those opportunities come up you will be more sensitive to them.

The element of service is so much more powerful than it has been given credit for. The Church has been primarily an organization of proclaiming True Parents and spreading the word in a relatively external level up to now. But in this age of tribal messiahship, messiah is the one who feels the heart of God. And so in this age of tribal messiahship, it is not enough to just come home and start to throw lecture charts at your relatives. You know this already; I know this is true. But it is a time to experience My heart for your relatives, people in the community, literally all the people that you meet. I know these people, and if you will listen and be sensitive to My heart, you will hear what I say to you about them and how to help them.

When you have a secret or know a secret about someone, well it is Satan's way to use that against them, to tear them down through secret understanding. But My way is to lift them up, to take what you know and what you have understood through their explanation and through what you have observed and help support them, help them get back on their feet. This is what love is all about. Love has to do with knowledge. Love is not just an emotion. It has to do with knowledge. The satanic world in these days talks and talks about love, but love and knowledge in this world are very poorly connected. And so people talk about love, they sleep together, they have physical relationships, and they even marry, but how many of them really know one another objectively from a compassionate, God-centered point of view?

Almost no one. And, therefore, there is so much divorce. Love without knowledge and, sometimes, knowledge with love. They come to know each other and then they use what they know to hurt each other. This is a problem and you will see it at work in and out of the church. It is everywhere. It's like tooth decay - it spreads, and it really crumbles trust in relationships. So your service needs to be based on really listening to Me each night, and you can bring these people to Me in prayer and we can talk about them. And I can guide you in helping. Whether it be the grocery man up the street or a member of the church or whoever, I can help you with these people. Don't you believe that? It's so important. What else is there in life except Godly relationships? There is nothing more. Eating? Is that as important? No. Sleeping? All these things? They have their place, but those are just for the physical mechanism of your body.

"W," you have physical difficulties, but that is only your body. Your spirit has been made stronger through this whole experience, and that is really who you are. And so, yes, your physical mechanism does go through difficulty at this point, but realize that your spirit is unhindered and will be made stronger through this whole thing. That is the hidden reward. That is what many people don't see in what has happened with you. And so your relationships with people, your ability to help people, your service to people on a deeper level of real knowledge and knowledge/love - let us call it "knowledge/love" - can be so much enhanced by what has happened. So you are the luckiest among women. And I told you last year that I want to use you as a papa and a mama to many people. This is not having to do with your position, because there will be no external position. And it's better that there isn't. You can serve quietly and humbly this way. And I will show you. We will open up the path together. Let's not talk about one year from now or nine months from now, or about all kinds of goals. You can discuss those yourselves. But let's open it up one door at a time and see where we can go. This is a year of service and don't limit yourself. You will find more and more power coming, more and more of a foothold in your community and with the people surrounding you as you come to discover the magic of "service/knowledge/love" this way. Am I clear on this? So you're lucky, very lucky to know these things. Let us really work on it together.

I don't have so much more tonight. I wanted to give you a kind of flag, like offering a flag that you can fly in your own hearts for this year. And that is the flag of true serving. The church, with the change of leadership now, is going into a second-generation stage, even though he is not a second-generation member. But still in this period of time there will be more opportunity and perhaps more freedom coming to go to a different level in the church. Until now it has been very fundamentally structured, very so-called vertically structured. But sometimes in that external vertical structure, people suffer in their internal vertical relationships. So with a greater freedom to have many get-togethers, to share, then you will find an internal vertical structure as people's relationship with Me will start to become more free. And then they can work more from their own volition, their own desire, and not just sort of looking all the time over at the Reverend, waiting to be told what to do. Again, that five percent will have more chance to be understood by individuals.

The major problem in the Unification movement is that people don't understand deeply the meaning of what is the five percent, and, therefore, just decide to obey or just do what they are being told to do. This is so childish. Even a horse can do that! A human being has been given a spirit, a logical mind, intuition. All of these are wonderful gifts that you haven't even begun to discover the depth of in yourselves. Not to just obey somebody, but to really come to understand the real flavor of My relationship with you and what life is all about. Believe Me, if you think of your favorite food, well, experiencing this kind of life is a hundred times more tasty! Otherwise, it's like chewing cardboard. That is why people become tired. Life should not be this way.

So this year let's continue. I gave you the flag; now we'll run it up the pole and fly it this year. We can work together and discover what it means to take your problems to Me and discuss them. I know you can't be everywhere at the same time right now. Be where you are. We'll work from this reality. Don't spend your time wishing you could be somewhere else; that's a waste of time. I can use you where you are right now very powerfully if your heart and mind are with Me. So that's my message tonight and I want to leave that with you, and then we will discuss it back and forth together as the days go by.

"W" (wife) asks a question about what was previously said, wanting to know more clearly about being sensitive to God's heart and hearing what He has to say about how to help each person. The reply is as follows:

It has to do with your prayer relationship with Me, your regular daily relationship with Me, so that when you look at something or someone you can almost feel My eyes looking through you. And that way it's not a separate thing, but you feel with Me as you observe someone or some situation. Yes, we can certainly discuss that. Maybe the purpose of this year is to discover that in depth. Because you know when you have felt God through someone, that's because they have been living it. They're not separating themselves from Me even in the sense of their own goodness. At the same time, someone who is only caught up by their own goodness, if you can remember someone like that, can become very unattractive and arrogant.

That's a secret that very few religious people have realized. In fact, many Christian people think it is evil to think that "God works through me" or whatever, that is arrogant. And they think they must just be humble and just try to do their little thing as much as they can. Well that's the way the devil lies to people and, if anything, they misunderstand the meaning of humility. Humility, didn't I say, is being open to your own divinity. Then you lose the ego. That's true humility, and it's the source of gigantic power. Gigantic power! People are afraid of power because they have not known what the true meaning is. This is such a joke in religions. It really is a problem.

Okay, I want to bring this to an end tonight and I'm very happy to be with you.