Elder Choi Tae Myung
There was a time when I was fairly close to Pastor Jung Myung Seok.
Then one day, he suddenly asked me, “What does your father do?”
I replied, “My father farms seaweed out at sea.”
He asked, “Then do you call him often?”
The truth is, I don’t call very often. I’m an unfilial child who rarely calls.
How did he know?
So I said, “I don’t call often.”
Pastor Jung then told me to call my parents often, to tell them often that I miss them, to thank them for raising me, and to report to them frequently.
Since I had received his words, I put them into practice. I began to call my father regularly, something I hadn’t done before.
I said to him, “Father, now that I’m out and trying to make a living, even just a little, I realize it’s really difficult and tiring. Thank you so much for all the hard work you went through to raise me.”
When I said that, my father was deeply pleased.
He said, “How did you come to realize something like that?”
There was also a time when Pastor Jung stopped by Okcheon Market. It must have been a market day because it was very crowded. While shopping, he bought some fish-shaped buns (bungeoppang) and some sweet pancakes (hotteok). He said he was going to take the bungeoppang to his mother.
I thought, “Why would he buy bungeoppang for her?”
I was deeply touched by his pure-hearted action.
“Why not buy something expensive? Why buy bungeoppang?” I wondered.
But when he brought them to Wolmyeongdong and gave them to his mother, she was so happy. It wasn’t about buying something expensive. It’s that the child brings something, anything, for the parents. That’s what they appreciate.
I realized that it’s not always about something big. Even a small gesture like giving a candy to your mother or father while saying, “Thank you for raising me. How hard it must have been for you to raise us until now,” is an important act of filial piety.
Seeing Pastor Jung’s example seep into my own life and learning from it, I think now: if I hadn’t spoken those words of gratitude to my father back then, I would regret it even today. People usually regret it after their parents pass away.
If I hadn’t expressed my understanding of my parents’ hearts and my gratitude for the hardships they endured raising me, I would have lived with that regret. But because Pastor Jung taught me to call my parents often, I put it into practice, and now I have no regrets when I think back.
I ask myself, “Could I really have said such words back then?”
At the time, I was in my twenties, an immature age when I normally wouldn’t have said such things. If it weren’t for Pastor Jung’s words, I don’t think I could have expressed them.
Even now, I feel proud and relieved that I did, and I live with a heart of gratitude toward Pastor Jung for teaching me that.