The Way to be a Filial Child Close to the Father, June 1, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: The Way to be a Filial Child Close to the Father

June 1, 2020, by Rafael Ablong

Happy Spiritual Birthday, Dr. Yong! Your physical and spiritual birth on earth is not just historical. More importantly, it is very significant to Heavenly Parents and True Parents, your ancestors, and to all of us. Your exemplary life of dedicated and faithful service has not helped to shape our character and identity but also helped to rebuild the nation and the world centering on True Parents' ideals. We are so grateful for your omnipresence in our hearts. Wherever we go, we have your guidance on the internet and we eagerly want to hear your morning devotion messages especially during this most special time. 

Dr. Yong’s message today is one of the best messages I heard so far. It highlights the challenges of family life as the  “frontline mission” after the blessing under the big topic, “The Way to be a Filial Child Close to the Father”.  Some of the most important points I have taken down from his sermon today are:

1.How can I be a filial child close to Heavenly Parents?  I have to deeply experience our Father ‘s heart and circumstances. We have to understand all of the situations Father endured. He was not a criminal yet he was treated as one. We need to understand Father’s secret if we desire to become a filial child of God. Understanding the heart, circumstances, dreams, and wishes of True Father are very important to becoming real sons and daughters of Heaven. 

2. To experience God; we need to understand his situation and circumstances, dreams and wishes, and his heart. We need to know his life and how he has taken care of our movement’s early pioneers. Father loved to hear their testimonies. He gave his timeless effort and pays very close attention to the member’s situation. Father has taught us to learn and love the origin of the person’s historical details. Like Father, we need to put a special heart and Jeong Seong to the person we deal with.

3.Dr. Yong’s knowledge and experience of his spiritual father, Rev. Yo Han Lee’s way of interviewing people. His questions seem to be very basic but these are all questions about relationships. Those questions are meant to look beyond the person’s present moment, by looking at their past for the sake of the future.  Professional counseling outside the movement is good but they lack hindsight and foresight. 

4. The Principle of Restoration is very important because, without it, we will never understand God’s suffering and present sorrow. Through the restoration history, we know how God has invested so much to save His fallen children. Learning the ideal of creation is just one piece of God’s dream and recreation experience. If we do not explain the principle of restoration well, as lecturers, we cannot make people feel the heart of God during the creation, the Fall, and the restoration history. We cannot inherit sorrow and yearning heart.

5. To understand the history of someone or a nation, we need to study the past. If we solve the problems of the past, we solve the problems of the future. How do we know Thailand or Korea? We need to study their history. If we know our past, we can guess our future.

6. How many people know that God is a tearful God? Even if Christianity does not understand God well enough, it is closer to God because it considers God as Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Parent is extremely good. We cannot find any speck of evil in Him. He cannot exist in an impure place.

7. The present problem of the movement is that no blessed family has become an ideal family. Where is the frontline? The frontline of the mind is the body. This is the first frontline. The second front line is the home. The frontline of the husband is the wife. The parents' frontline is the children and the children’s frontline is the parents. We need to become a model family. The frontline of conflict is the mind and body, the home, the family, between couples, between members of the family. How do we reduce the conflict? We need to overcome the desires of our flesh.

8. At home, the frontline is the husband or the wife, the parents, or the children. We need to become a model. This is the dilemma of our movement now. There is no model family. What is the frontline of Cain? it is Abel! So with Abel, his frontline is Cain. We are talking about the ideal family but we still struggle with our spouses. So we need to have a model, family a model home. 

9. It is a different era now, we need to become victorious in the family. We need to be recognized on each level of relationship and existence. We cannot just talk about the ideal family if we do not become the ideal family. We need to work hard to resolve all the conflicts in these frontlines.

10. Everything is about timing. The Spring season is about planting.  So, if one of our brothers or sisters is already at the right time to start the family then they should start the family. Abel’s heart is taking care of the family, his members. Leaders should not use members. The most mission is the family mission.

11. We have to express the four realms of heart. This is Father’s concern. The time of indemnity and offering is over. Individual perfection is no. 1 God’s Will. The husband and wife’s unity is the 2nd Will of God. We cannot do heavenly tribal messiah if we have a problem in the family. This is why people are struggling. That is why the family is very important. This is not conceptual. It should be an experiential and substantial family.  We have to transform concept to reality, written content to actual substance. We cannot solve the sorrowful heart of God anywhere but in the family. That is why we have to be a good couple. If we become good to each other,  God's Heart can settle down.

I think most of us can easily relate to Dr. Yong's experience. After my mind and body, my wife is the second frontline. Without my wife, it is hard to do anything. When we do things in unity with each other, we substantially exemplify the love and unity of God to our children. It makes it easier for our children to understand the blessing. Without telling them so much about marriage, matching and blessing just automatically go into their consciousness. When I stopped talking about the ideal and started to actualize it in substance, my children understand gets everything easily. When I stopped nagging my children about responsibilities at home and just silently showed it to them in action, they started becoming the children I want them to be.

I have stopped telling my trustworthy brothers and sisters about my difficulties because I know they won't understand anything. My children understand us better than anyone one now. We have always talked to them about the ideal, in their young years, but we never tried hard to realize the substantial until recently. So, when I stopped complaining to my children anything about my wishes, efforts, and difficulties without showing them strongly about my attempts to become better each time.  Everything just fell into its proper place. Walking the talk is better than talking about the walk.

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, for all the precious blessings of love and guidance from Heaven. Happy spiritual birthday again!  May Heavenly Parents and True Parents be with you and your family always! 

--Rafael E. Ablong