[김애란] Dream to pray

Dream to pray 

One day, with the help of a sister in my community, I tried to make a KakaoTalk account without having a phone. Using my email address and another phone number, I tried to create an account, but it took time because the phone was not mine. 

While undergoing the necessary process, I had to repeat it several times. That very night, my gesture of pressing the number appeared in my dream.

I was pressing the password on the front gate, but the door did not open immediately. I was going to appeal for children to use their school continuously. After several attempts, I gave up pressing the button and instead sat down to pray in front of the door.

As I began to pray, the host appeared all of a sudden. He was standing near me to listen to me. So I could express the problem and solve an impending issue.

I realized again the importance of prayer above anything else. What couldn’t be solved with human efforts was solved by the help of Providence. When I made up my mind to pray, the problem was no longer a problem. It was settled already by the mysterious presence.

As I prayed further, I noticed so many people were approaching me. More and more people formed a crowd gathering near me.

It was probably because I pondered on more than 30,000 victims who were killed during the April 3 uprising in 1948 in Jeju.

I felt the enduring power of communion among unknown people. It seemed all the innocent souls who died during various revolutions appeared to appeal for peace.

I got up in the morning, but the images of my dream were so vivid that they still lingered in my heart. The crucial point that I'm inspired again and again is to pray for the unknown souls.

My mother is another clear sign of praying constantly. She is now 99 years old. When she prays in the chapel, she still sits upright. One of her joyful habits is praying for her children and families. Her memory is shortened little by little, but the quality of her time is sustained and enriched through her prayers.

All of us need prayers. Especially our country is in a dire need of prayers. Efforts to realize integration and collaboration between the South and the North demand sincere prayers.

There are always some people who see the situation from the negative point of view and talk in a critical or comparative way than to encourage, empower and inspire others.

Our long term prayer intention is the reconciliation and unity of the country. We do our best to build a better society where we appreciate diversity and collaborate with one another for the common good.

This year, our Congregation will visit the Demilitarized Zone for the Paschal picnic in April. This dream has been one of our aspiring dreams! Another dream is to climb Baekdu Mountain in the near future.

When we do our best for the common good and concentrate on building a better society while praying with a clear intention, our dreams will come true one by one. It is marvelous to see endurance, firm resolution, and willing sacrifices strengthen our urgent aspiration for the unity of the country.