Love cannot be fulfilled alone. Without an investment of life, love cannot be established. When considering the love in the parent-child relationship, there is a clear bond of life. Thus, as long as a bond of life remains, and as long as there is hope within that bond, love will surely remain. No bond of love can be made apart from a bond of life. Thus, love requires an investment through a bond of life, and then the degree to which you invest your life will determine the value you feel. (32-14, 06/14/1970)
For example, parents’ love for their children is not just based on their daily relationship; rather, it is a love that comes from their bone marrow. Parents have a loving heart that cannot be forgotten or cut off from, no matter how you may try.
This is why parents love their children until their last breath. As soon as parents feel they have a bond of life with their children, a heart of love naturally arises in them.
Parents do not love their children based merely on a deliberate decision because they are their children. Instead, parents cannot help loving their children beyond any personal intention or connection, due to the life force connecting them. Such things are felt very clearly in our family life. (32-14, 06/14/1970)
What kind of being is God? God is a being with a heart that desires to give and give endlessly, which is also why we seek Him. If God were just a merchant who says, “Hey, this costs so many dollars and cents,” we would not pursue that kind of God. Why should all people love God and follow Him?
Why should we like God? It is because He gives and gives everything to all people and still feels ashamed, saying, “I can only give you this much now, but wait just a while, and I will give you a hundred and even a thousand times more.” God is not content with what He has given so far. God’s heart seeks to give abundantly, while also promising even better things in the future. If we are with such a being, we can be happy even in a state of poverty. When we reach the situation wherein we are experiencing starvation, in a shocking way we experience the stimulation of future hope within the present reality.
What this means is that through such hope, we can make a new resolution. When a mother feels sorry that she cannot give enough, if her child hugs her, saying, “Mommy!” will it just be a physical hug? How grateful she will be! It is a chance to shed tears of mutual comfort looking to the future. It is not an occasion for despair, but a place of explosive growth where they can take the hope of tomorrow as stimulation for the present, make a joint resolution together, and encourage each other. Therefore, such an experience is not a miserable one.
Only within such a realm of love can we find the stimulation to look to the future and sing praise for its value within the realm of reality. Hence, we come to the conclusion that there is no misfortune for those who live within that realm of love. (36-290, 12/13/1970)
Parents want to sacrifice everything for the sake of their children. This is like God. What does this mean? God does not invest Himself for His own sake. Likewise, parents want to live for the sake of others rather than for their own sake; they want to stand in the position of God, who lives for the sake of others.
If God were to say that He only exists for Himself, this would not be true love.
Love, life, and hope are realized when parents sacrifice themselves completely for the sake of their children and are bound together with them. (69-61, 09/10/1973)
END OF BOOK CHAPTER