We will now look at "dedication." A Divine Direction says: The truth of your dedication will enable you to understand its truth. Osashizu, May 17, 1893 In this Divine Direction, God the Parent teaches us that we are able to understand the true meaning of dedication by putting it into practice and savoring it. Followers might sometimes speak of dedicating their sincerity, dedicating labor, and dedicating other things, using the term under discussion to refer to any effort devoted to serving others, the work of the church, and the path. Thus, the term may mean offering money and other things to churches and to the path, but it can also refer to visiting a church to attend the monthly services or the morning and evening services. Or it may refer to one's daily effort to visit the church at any time of the day. Again, these visits may also include performing some task or other for the church. Compared with "contribution," the Japanese word translated as "dedication" may seem to refer to more outward and physical aspects, which makes some people think that it is lighter and shallower than contribution, thought to be more inward and spiritual. As with "contribution," however, what is important is to dedicate one's "sincerity." In fact, "contribution" and "dedication" are frequently used to convey exactly the same meaning. Also, these terms are often put together and used as one phrase, as in "contribution and dedication." God the Parent says in a Divine Direction: I have received all the truth you have contributed and all the truth you have dedicated. Osashizu, March 3, 1904 In other Divine Directions, we find passages that say, in effect: "There are people who contributed and dedicated all that they had to the cause of serving God the Parent and saving other people. They gave away their fortunes. Some people worry about the fact that they have given up their possessions to devote themselves to the path of God, but listen well. Even if it were not for this path, there is always the possibility that a strong wind could blow your house down, even causing you to lose everything overnight. You would indeed be left with nothing if you lost your possessions for such reasons. Contributing to the path, on the other hand, is just like sowing seeds here and there. So long as the seeds are sown, buds will sprout from them wherever they are" (Osashizu, May 21, 1897; September 21, 1900). |
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