A dream about True Mother

I had my very first dream with True Mother. She gave a gift to Andrea and I, but I cannot remember the gift. I do not remember her entourage; they were very much not there.

She was her age but using her body like a young person would do. For example, she jumped up at some point to sit on the ledge of a shelf so that she could talk to me.

I remember looking for something to sit on like a chair, I don’t remember if I did.

What I understood from her small talk to me was that it was hard for her to have a true friend, someone who can stick. She has had but they don’t stay for long because they have other commitments.

Looks like she was looking for someone who would stay with her always who would not have any other focus. She was not sad, or complaining, she was simply reporting.

April 2nd, 2018

The art of serving

A few days ago, I received the reflection below because of a short testimony I gave at Morning Devotion.
Thank you for your testimony this morning. I cried sooo much because of it.

I responded to this person with the following:
That is why we should not be shy to share because we never know how a simple testimony can affect someone.

Because I have shared several times in recent weeks, yesterday thoughts came to my mind about “The art of serving”. I came up with 3 things:

1. Serving: doing something for someone else – that is the easiest for anyone with a good heart and good conscience.
2. Ability to ask for help, that is often more difficult to do, especially for people who have a good heart and conscience.
3. Finding people who need help, so they can be helped. This require an additional effort of thinking and acting.

Any comments any one?

Picture taken when True Parents visited the High School of the Pacific in Hawaii.

What is the difference between being upset or being angry?

A couple of days ago, I was talking on the phone with my daughter. I was speaking intensely as I sometimes do. She said to me that I was angry, and she started to talk louder too. I responded, no I am not, but she said, yes you are angry.

I, then, proceeded by lowering my tone of voice, became calmer. We continued talking for sometimes. I like talking to my daughter. There is nothing superficial about her. Her arguments are sound and worth listening to.
Then, at some point, I came back to the word “angry”. And, I realized that, truly, I was not angry, I was upset. Then the following explanation came to me and I expressed it to her.

Someone is angry at someone they dislike or even hate.
Someone is upset at someone they love and care about.

The physical manifestation of these two different feelings is the same. The tone of voice gets louder, and the words used get more pointed. Tears will flow. But the heart has a completely different purpose and direction.

With gratitude,
Anne-Marie

Dictionary definition of the two words:
Definition of the word “upset”: make (someone) unhappy, disappointed, or worried.
Definition of the word “angry”: feeling or showing strong annoyance, displeasure, or hostility; full of anger.

Generation...Generation...Generation...

From the beginning of time, the gaps between each generation (about 30 years each) have been difficult to handle because each generation thinks, “We know better.”

I have reflected a lot on this, as I could not avoid the conflict between myself and my daughter. The conflict was not that bad but necessary because each of us made efforts to understand one another due to the simple reason that we deeply care and love each other.

Today, I would not call it an actual conflict, but there are times when each of us feels “something” is there.  That "something" reminds us both that we do belong to different generations where the other cannot live. What does that mean? It means that we simply need to respect each other’s generation and recognize the differences between them. And…these differences are good!

Why? The simple fact that none of us, young and old alike, can replicate a past generation shows that we are not robots but human beings, and unique. If we had simply repeated the lives of our ancestors, we would still be living in the Stone Age.

How do we handle the differences so that all of us are comfortable with our various inter-generational relationships? Well, respect and trust in one another will help. I do not mention “love” on purpose because too many of us are still learning what “love” is all about. But one thing I believe is, "love" starts with respect and trust in one another.

 “Mom…Trust me. Just trust me!” the desperate cry of my daughter I heard not just once but multiple times during her early adult years, still rings in my ears. I made an effort to pay attention, and one day I understood. I cannot explain to any of you how it happened because I do not remember, but one day the subject line of an email I sent to her read, “I got it.”

I got it! I finally was able to trust my daughter without fear of an impending disaster.  I think it came because I also decided to trust God. Easy to say, but not easy to do. Respect and trust must go both ways, so this would be my advice to the young generations:

Do not dismiss what the old people say. Listen to them; pay attention, for they have plenty of wisdom. Only after patiently understanding what they are saying will you have the ability to change the things you want to change and  really improve them. There are no shortcuts in life; we must learn from the past if we do not want to stay in the past.

And to the “old folks” like me, I would say:

Do not dismiss what the young people say. Listen to them; pay attention, for they have plenty of energy and ideas that need your wisdom. But if you do not listen and respect them, they will not be able to hear you. You do not really want the next generations to repeat your life and do things the way you did. They cannot. They are not re-living our history they are building theirs. But our successors will succeed faster if we are able to listen to them. And when they feel our respect, they will want to listen to us.

About Pride

The Divine Principle as taught by Rev. Sun Myung Moon is a truth that needs to be applied every
 

single day in our relationships. At home, at work, and at play the Divine Principle has a place. Do not keep that seat empty.

Self-preservation is a natural mechanism that exist to help us stay alive. In a protected environment when surrounded by people who care and love this self-preservation sometimes become, “pride”. Having too much pride can easily destroy loving relationship between family members, friends, and co-workers.
 

We need to remember what we learned through the Divine Principle. The hardest things to give is ourselves. Our thoughts, our wants, and our needs are precious to us, they define us. Though we know that we must experience the kind of giving that could erase our own existence, it is hard to do, but it is what we need to do.
 

When we fight with someone we love, it is because we believe that the other person feels that what they have to say is more important than what we have to say, but in reality – the person speaking feels just like us. The person speaking feels unheard and undermined. The person speaking feels frustrated, just like us.
 

The fastest way to stop the fight is to remain silent with our voice, but also with our mind, and with our heart. That is what self-deny means – it is the hardest thing to do, but if done correctly, will allow the other person to calm down and do the same. True love will once again flow between both of you, of that, you can be very proud.
 

Sharing truthfully what we think with our love ones is necessary, but learning how to do it take time, sometimes it may take a very long time.