Thank God, and thank the partner of love

Even if the object partner of your love gives you a hard time, and you may be tempted to feel unhappy, or disappointed, etc. , never forget that without the partner, you can never become the owner of that particular love. For that reason, you have to be absolutely grateful for your object partner of love. (spouse, children, brothers, sisters, parents...)
After all, we are destined to become the owners of love while we spend limited time on this earth. There's no time to waste by being self-centered.

You're not gonna believe this...

I went bowling after many years of blank.

To my surprize, it started very good. I had a spare, then strike, then another strike! Oh my goodness, this cannot be me, something is going on. The next one was kind of boring. But, the one after next, oh my goodness, you're not gonna believe what happened. I should have video-taped it. This is what happened:

I had a split. Two pins stood parallel. I don't know how to describe it in English, but in this case, usually you would either miss both, or hit one if lucky, and one pin will still remain. I threw the bowl, and oh my goodness, the bowl went a wrong way, too much left, it's gonna go into gutter, so sad, I will miss both. But, guess what happened.

In fact, a bowler before me was a kind of weak person, and her bowl didn't reach the end and it was still in the gutter. Now the bowl which I threw went a wrong way too left and now hitting the gutter. Lo, and behold! That bowl was going into the gutter but somehow it hit the bowl in the gutter and bounced back to the lane, and then hit the both of remaining pins and both fell down! Oh, my goodness, if you don't call this a miracle, then what is miracle?

Then, I realized that the bowling is a pretty spiritual sports. I regretted that if I had clearer awareness of that and if I didn't forget that spiritual aspect, in other word, if I played bowling with awareness of that I am bowling not alone, but together with God, then our bowling activity would not have become just a nice exciting time, but it would have become a chance of experiencing a presence of the living God even in such an activity. Then, I believe all of the participants would have had a different experience which may be very unforgettable.

Thus, this bowling experience became a very good lesson to me. I learned that I shouldn't take bowling lightly, or I shouldn't take anything lightly. Every moment of my life is very amazing miracle if I choose to make it a miracle--miracle in a sense of experiencing of God. Living with God in every moment. If I make particular focused effort in that aspect, my life will be different, and my relationship with God surely will grow deeper and deeper.

Bathroom conversation to begin a day--so important

This morning I realized that whether I can wake up in the morning on time with a clear spirit or not really depends on my life of the whole part of the day before. If I invested myself into each moment of the day according to my conscience and feel no regret at the end of the day, then the next morning I will wake up on time with a very clear spirit. On the other hand, if I did not invest myself into each moment of the day and have some regret, then the next morning will have its effect, including being unable to wake up on time. Of course, that's not the end of the world, and it still is another learning experience as well as a chance for something else. So, anyway the conclusion is every morning we thank God! Everything is a learning experience and an oppotunity to develop our deeper relationship with Him.
Therefore, I'd better check my whole day: Do I have clear goal in the morning? Am I following it up throughout the day? Am I reflecting well at the end of the day? This would make a lot of difference.
This I talked to God about in the bathroom first thing in this morning.

Thanking is good or bad depending on my motivation

Few days ago, I realized that thanking God is not good enough.
When I get up in the morning and say,"Thank God, I'm not dead.", if I am thinking about just me being alive for my own sake without thinking about those who dies, that's not good.
However, if I think I have a job to do for God and humanity, and God allowed me this new day to do that job for some reason, and thank God, then it should be good.
Indeed I have a work to do through my lifetime--the more I find the reason why God put me here at this time of history in this perticular place on the earth, the more my work would benefit whole mankind and God.

Another bathroom revelation this morning

I woke up late this morning. Somehow I couldn't hear the alarmclock. When I went inside the bathroom, I asked Him why I couldn't wake up on time. He told me that I needed to realize something last night but I didn't, that's why he wanted to get my attention so that I could catch that message. Here's the summary of that message:

I set my goal to live with God, attending His presence. But my focus was just God himself. However, He is the parent of all mankind, which means, parent cannot just exist disconnected from children. Parents always love children, concerned about children, feels joy and pain according to the situation of the children. Therefore, the right way to live with God attending Him is with the awareness of what He would be thinking and feeling about His children (especially when most of His children are in such unhappy situation) We cannot live with God without having awareness of the situation of His children. When one child suffers, parent's heart cannot be somewhere else, just relaxing by himself.

Then one story just came to my mind.

...Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' "Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into etrenal life." (Matt: 25: 34-46)

bathroom revelation this morning

I woke up at 4:40 this morning and went to the bathroom.
As I was washing my face, God started to talk to me. He said that if I set a goal for the day, I have to be serious about that goal. It shouldn't be just a lip service. Why? It is because when I say to Him what I want to accomplish for today, He also says to me, ok let's do it. Then He never forget what I promised Him to do, and He will make every possible effort from His side to make it happen, by setting up many different situations. However, if I am not serious about the goal, and fail to pay conscious attention to what God may be doing, then His preparation will not bring what is expected to happen. Therefore, if I am not serious about my goal, it is very rude thing I could do to God.
Ok, God, thank you very much for your guidance. I will take it seriously, and practice from now.
Always pay attention to what God may be doing, and whenever you notice that God is asking you to do something, never fail to say, "Yes" So, like I said before, "Say Yes to God; One Yes at a Time"

Thanking for the bathroom is still not good enough

This morning I woke up with a good feeling, shouting to God, "Thank you, God. I'm not dead!" as usual.
Then, all of a sudden, strong feeling came to me, saying that it is not good enough to just thank something that you can appreciate. When you say, "Thank you God, I'm not dead!", what is your idea to those who dies? You are not thinking about them, but only thinking about your "fortunate" situation. In other words, you are just being selfish when you say to God, "Thank you." What an irony!
Well, maybe this is pretty much high level of understanding God's heart. I can still start from what I can do at this point--to thank God for what you can appreciate--just like an innocent child. I think that's ok. Even I heard that someone said that you should be like an innocent child in order to go to Heaven. We can start from there humbly, and the more we appreciate God, the deeper our relationship will be, and the deeper part of God's heart will be accessible to us. Such heart--like a parent. When one child suffers, your heart aches. Then I cannot just say thank you God without paying attention to that child.
I think it takes time, and we can do step by step: Say Yes to God; One Yes at a time.

Is there oxygen after death?

We discussed if there is a bathroom after death yesterday.
How about this question: Is there oxygen after death?
I have heard that there is no oxygen after death. But there is air for sure. However, the content of the air is not like oxygen or carbon deoxide but instead it is something like "love."
That means; we will be breathing "love"--inhaling "love" and exhaling "love"
So, we need to be able to inhale "love" and exhale "love"
Thus, we need to develop our capability to receive "love" and give "love" through our limited life with our physical body.
In other words, we need to be able to feel God's love (inhale) through everything around us--nature, food, people, situation, happenings, good moment, bad moment, happy moment, sad moment, chllenges, difficulties, etc. etc... This takes a training (this will not happen automatically)
We also need to be able to give love to the people (exhale) This also takes a training.
So life is an opportunity to go through this training, so that we can freely breath God's love. Then surely we will find ourselves happy, and we will be prepared to go into the next world.
The key word to begin this trainig is, "Thank you, God!"

Is there a bathroom after death?

I was worrying about this question.
If there is one, that means whatever bothersome process surrounding bathroom in our life here will continue for eternity?! --such as diarrhea, constipation, getting panics in search of an existence of a bathroom, getting clogged out, etc....
However, I have heard that we don't need to worry about those things at all when we get there. Of course, there will be delicious food over there, but we will not be eating food to maintain our physical existence, but rather enjoying taste and tasting God's love behind them. Thus, we will not need to do either #1 or #2; we will just enjoy eathing whenever we want to eat.
On the other hand, I have heard another news, too. Yes, we will surely do #1 and #2 over there, but the difference is that after we do it, we will just need to waive our hands and they will be gone!
Anyway, this is still my lifetime research topics. What will it be like in the world after death. Please let me know if you know something...

Sages' way of bathroom

One honorable man taught me how I should go to the bathroom.
He didn't lecture it on me, but somehow I found out how he does the bathroom:

1. I noticed that whenever he comes out of the bathroom, it gets cleaner than before his entering it. He cleans whenever he goes into the bathroom. Why? It is because he wants the next user to have a pleasant and joyful experience and to become happy.
2. He uses only one sheet of toilet paper or two at most. Why? It is because he wants to save papers. He knows there are many people in this world who could not have even a piece of paper. Thinking about them, he cannot peacefully use too much paper.
3. He doesn't flush water all the time--only when it's needed. Why? It is because he wants to save water. He knows there are many people in this world who could not have even a drop of water. For many people, the only water available is dirty water, and they get sick all the time. Thinking about them, he cannot peacefully use water as he pleases.

Thanking is recognizing and appreciating

Thanking is to recognize what God gives to me, and to appreciate what he gives to me.
Thanking is, thus, the beginning of my conversation with God.
He already gave me so many things starting from my own life.
The more I thank, the more things I start to see which I didn't see before as His gift.
Then I start to see so many gifts around--not only things, but also the situations
God prepares so many different situations for me to grow,
and to be mature, then I will be filled with joy and happiness
Therefore, I'd better open my eyes wide
so that I can see His love
Many times I cannot recognize His love because it comes from totally unexpected direction, or in totally unexpected manner; better open my eyes...
He hears our prayer and absolutely responds to us (maybe not in a way we expect)
Here's a good example:

This is the conversation from the movie, "Evan Almighty"

....This situation looks like an opportunity.
If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does He give them the opportunity to be patient?
If they prayed for courage, does God give them courage, or does He give them the opportunity to be courageous?
If someone prayed for their family to be closer, you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

Therefore, when you get up in the morning, the first thing you do is to say, "Thank you, God! (I'm not dead.)" Then anything happens to you, you say, "Thank you, God." And then stop to think what you can thank God about. I mean, you have to be open to notice God's love from anywhere, in any kind of manner.

What if my wife throws away the rose which I gave to her?

We discussed that you lose nothing by thanking.
Today we discuss that you gain something by thanking.

Suppose you love your wife so much, and one day gave her a gift with all your heart--a rose!
Guess what. She threw it into the garbege can! How would you feel? Of course not so good.

What if she received it with so much joy and gratitule?
You might be so inspired to even give her more.

How about in the case of our God?
Whether we believe it or not, He has given us so much--air, light, food, healthy body, beautiful flowers, nature, ability to appreciate things, etc. etc.
If I take it for granted and not offer my appreciation, how would He feel? But if I recognize what He has given to me and appreciate it, how would He feel? Would He feel the same or different?

Our relationship with Him could become so deep, personal, and intimate. However, it is totally up to me how I develop this relationship. Like every human relationships, it should start from recognition of the other and appreciation for the other, which would help deepening the relationship. Thus, thanking God is just a beginning of building this amazing relationship of God and me in this universe which goes even beyond our phisical life on earth--eternity!

You lose nothing by thanking

When I say, "Thank God for protecting my left knee!", do you think God is really doing it? Or, is it just my imagination? In fact, there are two possibilities.

1. God, in fact, worked to protect my left knee.
2. God did not protect my left knee. It happened by accident.

In case of 1, if God really did it, then it is very natural thing to be thankful. God will also be happy when you thank Him about what He did.

In case of 2, if God did not do it, and then you start thanking Him. God may be surprised, or shocked. He might say, "Oh, my God! How can he do that?" He might be feeling this way, "I was feeling sorry as the parent to have to see my child bleeding. I couldn't help him because of some reasons, but as I see him thanking for what I did not do. I feel so bad.

Imagine if someone thanks you so much for something you didn't do. How would you feel? You may feel indebted.

Thus, at least you can catch His attention because not many people do this to him. When you get His attention, His heart will get attracted to you, then you will get Heavenly Fortune.

So, you will not lose, but will gain.

Coming out of the bathroom

Even outside the bathroom, there are still things you can be grateful.

Imagine when you are walking, suddenly you were tripped by a stone on the road and fell down. Now your right knee started bleeding. What would you do first?

Of course there are lots of things to do dealing with this situation. However, what is the first thing you could do?

It is to say, "Thank you, God."

You may say, "What?"
"What are you thanking for when you are bleeding and in pain?"

Yes, you would say, "Thank you, God, for protecting my left knee!"

Yes, there is always a reason to be thankful. And whether thanking or not is totally up to me. This is an amazing part. If I thank, I will receive tremendous power in doing whatever afterwards. If I don't thank, you will still do what you need to do to deal with the situation. Therefore, thanking or not is totally my choice. In other words, I am given an amazing source of power all the time, but to access or not is my choice. Nobody will push you or force you to make that choice. As far as you voluntarity choose to make that choice, your life will be more protected, and happier. This is one of the amazing blessing we have as human being. We could go on to say even this:

Who is making me happy? Who is making me unhappy? It is me, myself who choose to be either happy or unhappy. Nobody else, nothing else. But I still need to talk about the reason why thanking will give you amazing power. What is the mechanism of thanking? I will be back...

Another bathroom inspiration

When I was washing my face and hands, this inspiration came.

What if my arm is a half of its length? I would have difficulty in washing my face because it would barely reach my face to wash it. Not only that, I would have more difficulty in doing #2 especially at the ending part of the work. So I was amazed. Wow! Who made my arm to be this perfect size? It is, in fact, the most ideal size to do these bathroom works. Not only that, this length of the arm gives such a good balance as I walk, and run. And did you know, if you stretch your arm, the length from your right hand to your left is the same as your height? Who designed this balance? So again I have to thank God for this in the bathroom.

Any objection?

Thanking a bathroom is understandable, but thanking OOOO is...

Thus I came to learn to thank God for the bathroom. However, one day I was shocked to hear one story that showed me some people goes a way beyond that standard. It was a testimony of thanking a poopoo!

There was a man who was greatly respected by many people for his accomplishments, not only for his external accomplishments but particularly for his great character. One day he gave a testimony sharing his secret of how he became such a man of character. He said that it was highly owing to his grandmother's influence on him.

His grandmother was not an educated woman. She never went to school. But one unique thing about her was she was thanking so much in her daily life. She thanked for a new day, for food, health, fortune, etc. One day, though, he was very embarrased, as a child, to see her thanking her poopoo, even she was bowing to poopoo!

He didn't dare to ask why she was doing it, but he eventually found out why she did it. This was the reason: Think about it if someone comes to your house and help some work in your house such as carpet cleaning. What would you say to him as he comes at the door and about to enter the house? You would say, "Welcome! Thanks for coming." Then he works hard in your house and eventualy he finishes his work, and now he is leaving your house. When he is about to go out, what would you say to him? "Get out! You smell so bad. I never want to see you again!" Of course you wouldn't say that. "Thank you. Thank you for your hard work." That's what you would say. So think about this...

When food comes into your mouth, you say, "Thank you God for the food." as you welcome the food to come into your house and start working in your house. Then, when the food finishes its work in your house and about to go out, what should you say? "Thank you, food, for your hard work, and it is ok to bow to the food who finished the work, as the expression of your gratitude.

Anyway, the point of this great man was that he learned from her grandmother's lifestyle of thanking throughout his young age. He learned that thanking is so powerful, which helped him to mold his character in amazing way. So, now, what can you not thank?

What does bathroom have to do with inspiration?

I have been receiving so many inspirations in the bathroom. I was wondering why.

One day I met with one man. He said he was receving so many inspiration in the bathroom. I was curious. We spoke, and I found out he knew why he received so many inspirations in the bathroom. So, why?

He said that in the bathroom, all he does is to "give." Therefore, it is the natural consequence accroding to the universal law, that he will receive something from above. He explained to me about the universal principle. In the universe, the most important principle is "giving." Every creation is created to give to others, then naturally something will return to them and the interaction develops between the two. That's how this universe exists, and that's how it operates and develops. Therefore, the secret of the happiness to our life is "giving."

Well, his explanation made sense to me at that time. I got one more wisdom. Thank God!

Thank God for the bathroom!

Have you ever thanked God for the bathroom?
It may sound strange to some of you, but I say this out of my own experiences.

Several times I had experiences like this in my life:

One day, I was invited to give a talk at some church. I was sitting on the chair prepared for the guest speaker on the stage. All of a sudden, I got a diarrhea. I was shocked. Why is God giving me this when I am about to speak?

I tried to calm myself down, seeking for God's guidance. Then somehow someone told me that the bathroom exists in the right next room just behind the stage. I managed to walk out very slowly, and safely got inside. I said, "Thank you, God, for the bathroom!" However, another shock. There's no toilet paper on the holder! What shall I do?

Again I tried to calm myself down, seeking for God's advice. Then I was told to look up. As I looked up I found the paper put on the divider. Oh, thank God for the toilet paper!

What would I do without a bathroom? and without a toilet paper?

But, this was just a beginning.