A Flower Blooming in a Gravelly Field

“I’ve never seen a sweet potato flower like this in my entire life!”

Some elderly people were so amazed to see the sweet potato flower blossom. Listening to their conversation, I became lost in thought for a while. The sweet potato patch, which became an object of people’s attention now, was once just a small place in the corner which no one would think of as a patch. It was a gravelly place covered with all kinds of garbage all over the place including pieces of wood. It was a kind of deserted land.
No one paid attention to the land, but there was an old lady who showed interest in it. Every morning she came to the place to remove the waste from it and to pick out pebbles. Thanks to her efforts, the soil gradually came into view although there had seemed to be no soil at all. Then she made furrows and planted sweet potato cuttings there.
‘Why on earth is she planting them in that place when there are so many other fields?’
Since I had some experience in farming, I could not understand what she was doing. Although it had the shape of a field, there didn’t seem to be any water contained in it, to say nothing of nutrients. It didn’t really seem like the land would produce sweet potatoes. People around her probably though the same way as I did; they paid no attention to her. However, she did not care about what they though of her; she continuously gave water to the plants every morning and evening. The field was so dry that watering it was like filling a bottomless vessel, but she wholeheartedly took care of the field. When a sweet potato stem failed to put its roots down and died, she picked it out and planted another in its place. As she continued to water and fertilize the field, the sweet potato stems grew thicker day after day.
Despite all the negative predictions, they survived and thrived! I even felt admiration for them. One day, I saw something like a morning glory between the sweet potato stems.
“Wow!”
Wondering how it bloomed in a sweet potato patch, I stopped walking and looked closely at it. Then I let out an exclamation. It was a sweet potato flower that I had only seen in pictures! Even though I grew up in a farming town, I had never seen a sweet potato flower like that before. I looked around at other set potato fields to see if they also had flowers.However, there was no field where the sweet potatoes had produced flowers, although their leaves and stems had become thick. I had never imagined that the small gravelly field would produce a sweet potato flower, which is so rare. As I watched the flower in amazement for quite a while, I was reminded of the love of Mother, who made the flower of life bloom in my parched, dry soul.
The dry, deserted land covered with waste, which no one paid attention to – that was the field of my mind before I met God. However, Heavenly Mother continued to cultivate that barren land. She always gave the water of life to the dry, parched land which no one paid attention to and which could not contain any hope, so that the flower of life could finally bloom there. The lady, who helped bloom a sweet potato flower in the gravelly field, is picking out stones in another field today. Seeing her reminds me of our Heavenly Mother who is working hard even at this moment to cultivate the fields of people’s hearts that are as hard stone, desiring all the souls to be saved.
Mother does not give up on even a single soul, no matter how weak and worthless that soul is; She takes great care of each and every soul. Like Mother, I, too, want to put more effort and sacrifice into saving souls even in the hard times when I feel like giving up, so that I can make the flower of life bloom in them – the flower that never withers. I pray to Heavenly Father Christ Ahnsahnghong and Heavenly Mother to bless all the children in the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) throughout the world so we can have a beautiful mind and bear many fruits.

S-B Kang from Yangsan, Korea