PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Dear friends,

A mother's heart is truly precious - it is wider and deeper than the ocean, stronger than a mountain, seasoned and proven to be resilient throughout history in even unthinkable situations.

Also, a mother's heart can be softer than a feather, and is always hopeful and ready to uplift, forgive, encourage, and nourish others; the list goes on and on.

One great quality, however, that seems to be so very much needed in our world today is that a mother (a motherly heart for those who don't have their own children) is able to turn pain into purpose and trials into triumphs, and rise from being a victim to a victor. Such is the mother's heart, of which some of the stories in this month's first issue give a little taste.

In these excerpts of the poem below, our dear Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon describes poetically her life using the image of an ocean, that can absorb anything and everything, even storms, and still be strong and majestic. Such has been the life of many mothers around the world whose unconditional love for their family, community, and faith kept them strong, allowing them to overcome the unthinkable while embracing all life. A Mother's heart is priceless and so crucial in this ever changing and transitional world, to be a constant, like the ocean.

My life has been like an ocean.

The ocean can generously embrace and unite with the sky and resemble its color.

It is in the lowest place, where it accepts all the water of the world.

The ocean embraces everything and conceives all life.

In the ocean all varieties of living things are born and raised in abundance.

Its tides ebb and flow in response to the pull of the moon and the changing seasons.

It responds to the rays of the sun, creates water vapor, and influences the weather.

A calm ocean is peaceful on the surface, but deep inside enormous currents that move the ocean are constantly surging.

Then waves of a tsunami rage, they can swallow everything.

People cannot see the whirlpool beneath the surface.

Heaven’s providence has surged like a typhoon, and my life has unfolded in the midst of it.

There are so many circumstances that cannot be spoken of, which only I understand from the center of the providence.

Crossing over that whirlpool, not allowing it to pull me down, I joined Father in the work to complete the providential history of restoration.

Let us truly consciously appreciate and celebrate this motherly heart during this month and know our value as mothers throughout the year.

No worries, esteemed gentlemen, next month we will also celebrate a father's heart for its own difference and uniqueness!

Here is to the universal loving heart of all mothers presently in the world, those beloved ones before us who taught us, and to those who will come after us who will continue to carry that heart from generation to generation.

Happy Mother's Day 2018!

Angelika Selle