What is True Children's Day?
Do you remember what it was like to be a child? How the world was full of magic and wonder? What a joyful thing, to see through those eyes. If you have children or grandchildren of your own, you need only look at them to be reminded of the beauty and innocence with which they see the world.
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ”
Children represent hope, but they also remind us of how much we are loved. After all, we are all God’s children. On the first True Children’s Day in 1960, Rev. Sun Myung Moon declared that “today marks the day of the children and the season of fruition.”
To Be a Child Again
Children represent the culmination of their parents’ love. They are the vehicle through which our families grow and our hearts expand. To have children is to understand the heart of our Heavenly Parent. To remember to see through a child’s eyes is to remember that we ourselves are all children of God.
In a way, children are the culmination and the beginning in the circle of love. “Who is the king, father, master and teacher, owner of this world?” asked Father Moon in a speech he gave on the 37th True Children’s Day, November 11, 1996. “Without being a child, we can't be a father; without being a disciple we can't be a teacher.”
What Does it Mean to Be a True Child of God?
Is it something that we can all aspire to and achieve? We are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent, but Father Moon encourages us to be filial sons and daughters, the kind of children who seek to bring joy and love to their parents.
Father Moon offered this prayer, on November 20, 1968, the 9th True Children’s Day:
“Please allow us and help us to become Your sons and daughters who can remember Your loving heart and show gratitude for the fact that You have labored hard and incessantly to pioneer the path of the providence of restoration.”
Children are Our Legacy
Not only are children a representation of our own love, but they are our link to the future. Children represent the new world, the new generation, one that will live on after we depart from this earth. To nurture and care for children is to leave a legacy of love for decades to come.
Unificationists uphold the family as the vehicle from which to create a peaceful society, nation and world. An ideal family structure, known to Unificationists as the Four-Position Foundation, has God at the core, a husband and wife, and child at the center. The child is the last piece to the puzzle, but the most precious and important link.
“Would you not like to have God live with you? Create a loyal trinity with your children (God, parents and children). So God, parents and children must be together. Parents, grandparents, children, together. It is the way to Heaven, throughout the generations, centered on absolute love.”
Celebrating True Children’s Day
True Children’s Day occurs on the first day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar. This year, that’s November 13, 2023. Unificationists traditionally spend this day with their families, sharing gifts, spending time in prayer, and setting up a colorful offering table of fruits and other goodies for God (a Korean tradition), and ultimately sharing with each other.
You can recognize True Children’s Day without the whole fiesta. Take some time today to honor the children in your life, and the child in yourself. Say a prayer to your Heavenly Parent and smile knowing you are eternally and wholly loved.