1st Place Essay by Julie Tuballa

True Parents have invested everything, both physical and spiritual, for the unification of the world, so that we all will be able to connect to Heavenly Parent with true love. By following the life of True Parents, we can say that their course of life is one that has been filled with a lot of pain and sacrifice. Indeed, they are the true epitome of genuine love, life and lineage.

Chambumo Gyeong, one of the Holy Scriptures of Cheon Il Guk by the True Parents, is a book depicting the entire life of True Parents, from their birth to the day they became True Parents and to the establishment of the era of Cheon Il Guk. One of the sections that is significant to me is the last section of Book 13 entitled “The Path to the Settlement of Cheon Il Guk.” This section talks about the suffering and pain of True Parents in establishing the era of Cheon Il Guk and the path that we, as citizens of Cheon Il Guk, have to follow.

The hardships that they have gone through are beyond words, but despite those hardships they have continued to fight with true love because they know the heart of the Heavenly Parent. Even if there were countless people who persecuted them, True Parents never placed any anger toward the posterity; instead they gave them love—not just an ordinary love but True Love. Furthermore, through their works of restoration True Parents have shown the way of filial piety and loyalty toward the parents, family, nation, world and cosmos. In order to be completely restored and to receive salvation, people must walk the path of divine sons and daughters exemplified by True Parents. Humankind should follow them as their guide in life so that we will be perfected and filled with eternal love from Heavenly Parent.

The accomplishments and achievements of the True Parents over the course of their life have created a new era of Cheon Il Guk. They have conquered the satanic realm with new truth and with true love. They are constantly guiding the people by bequeathing the new truth to all humankind so that we may attain complete salvation from the satanic lineage. They have enlightened our path to become true sons and daughters of Heavenly Parent, a path that is in complete attendance to the Heavenly Parent.

When I first read this section of Chambumo Gyeong, my eyes were filled with tears because I felt in my heart the pain that the True Parents have gone through. Every word struck me like a machete. In my heart I felt the need to follow True Parents and to embody them as a little messiah. With True Parents, I got the strength to work harder every day for Heavenly Parent. As I was reading, I made a resolution to live a life like that of True Parents, a life filled with true love that encompasses the whole world.