Today I'd like to talk not about the Blessing Ceremony, but about words of blessing as well as words of curse as opposed to them.

Words can change our environment and the direction of our life. It is important what "words" we put in our soul. We always need to protect our soul. At the same time we should be careful about the words that we utter.

If we use words properly we can help people and give them a lot of grace.

From the Bible we may learn that originally the word "blessing" had the meaning "praise." It means that blessings are expressed through words.

In other words, it means that our words possess a power. So when we speak, we should pronounce words which mean blessings.

Every morning in my family I do a special training. When kids wake up they first greet parents. And we, their parents, tell them one by one, "Mommy and daddy truly love you Shin-pal (Shin-man, Shin-goong, Shin-joon, Shin-deuk), today and forever!" We tell them - one by one - words of blessing. When you children start a day, when they go to school, tell them words of blessing, "God will protect you today. Today will be your best day. Today you will make God happier." Use more words of blessing.

Originally Isaac was supposed to give his blessing to his first son, Esau. Genesis 27:12 tells us about Jacob's inner struggle. He told Rebecca, "What if father understands that I'm Jacob? What'll I do, if he gives me a curse instead of blessing?" These words show us that Jacob understood how precious words of blessing and how fearful words of curse are.

Due to Rebecca's wisdom Jacob managed to receive the blessing and when blessing him Isaac said, "All nations will bow before you and sons of your brethren will bow before you. Those who curse you will be cursed and those who bless you will be blessed." Isaac didn't give to Jacob any material treasure; he gave him words of blessing.

Now, let's talk about words of curse. Natives of the Solomon Islands have a peculiar method of cutting down big trees. They live away from civilization, so they don't have chainsaws and other equipment. Therefore they use a very special method to cut down trees.

For 30 days local shamans at dawn of every day go to the tree they selected and start to swear and yell at that tree. They curse it. After 30 days the tree falls down. This theory means that if we shout at another person, swear at him and curse him, we kill his spirit.

Many people may say, "I scold my kids for their own sake. I scold my brothers and sisters for their own sake." However such words give negative influence to the people who hear them.

One day as I was having a meal with our church pastor in a cafeteria, a group of ladies at the next table were speaking really nasty words about the Unification Church. I listened to them without saying anything.

However all day long their words lingered in my head. I didn't know those ladies and still their words had such a big influence on me. But what if the words of curse are said to you by a person whom you love? How difficult it is to erase them!

The "seed" we sow in our life depends on the words we say. I mean, even the words we say about ourselves. Don't speak negatively; don't plant bad seeds in yourselves. Say to yourself, "I'm breathing in victory and breathing out the spirit of failure. I'm inhaling health and exhaling sicknesses. I'm taking in unity and sending away division.

Such positive thinking and speaking will guide your life towards development. God's love is capable of turning curses we have received into blessings. In our life from the young years we might have been cursed by someone, we might have heard bad words from some people or been spoken ill of. But if these things still create difficulties in our lives, we need to break them.

We should be able to turn words of curse into blessings, the same way God does. Let us train from today. If you say words of blessings to other people, you will get more benefits in life.

By encouraging and giving strength to other people when they are in trouble, we strengthen ourselves. God is preparing such blessings for us. True Parents have blessed our lives. So, don't you ever think you're going to fail.

Even if someone says such things to you, never say these words to yourselves. This is the era of liberation and complete freedom, and we are victors in the name of True Parents. When God looks at you, He sees VIPs. When meeting each other let's share more words of blessings. I believe that in this way we can embody in our life blessings given to us by True Parents.