When doing any kind of work, it is not done easily.

One time, Pastor Jung Myung Seok told people to try transplanting a pine tree from one place to another and make it grow there. It is not an easy task to dig out one tree from one place, plant it in another place, and make it grow there all by yourself.

The reason is that it requires the strength that comes from putting your life on the line, so you have to use all 100% of your strength on it.

Because it is a difficult task to do alone, it is much better to work together with multiple people.

If 10 people are helping, you only need to use 1/10 of your strength, and if there are 100 people, you only need to use 1/100 of your strength to do a certain task.

For those who have never done a particular task themselves, they will never be able to understand how difficult it is to do that task; thus, they must try to do it themselves to know how difficult it is.

The same is true with digging out a pine tree. Only those who have personally tried to transplant a pine tree would know how difficult it is; others would not understand well.

Those who have not participated in the landscaping of the Wolmyeongdong Natural Temple think that we kept the pine trees in the mountain as they were and simply stacked up rocks between the trees. Sometimes Pastor Jung just told those who thought that way that he did work on the landscape like how they imagined. If we say that we didn’t touch any of the pine trees and left them as is naturally, people think that the work we did really didn’t require that much effort and hard work.

However, for Pastor Jung to transplant just one tree, he struggled to the point he could have bitten his tongue off.

Digging out a tree and bringing it is already difficult enough, but for some trees, it is more difficult. In a particular case, we had to dig the ground out to remove a rock for four days just to plant that one tree. Fortunately, all the trees that we transplanted with much effort have survived without dying. Because we took great care of the trees worrying that it might die, they survived and lived.

Through the process of transplanting trees, Pastor Jung thought it would be nice for people to know that It is not easy for something to exist.

Just like this, for something to exist, it is not just simply done, but it exists with great effort.

- Excerpt from the morning message by Pastor Jung Myung Seok on May 12, 1998-

 모든 일이 그렇게 쉬운 것이 아니기에

 정명석 목사는 사람들에게 소나무 한그루만 

 옮겨서 살려 보라고 합니다. 

 나무 한 그루를 혼자서 캐다 심어보고, 

 살리기까지는 쉬운 일이 아닙니다. 

 힘도 목숨을 건 힘이 필요하고, 

 100% 힘을 다 써야하기 때문입니다. 

 혼자서 하려면 더 힘드니 같이 여럿이서 

 움직이는 것이 좋습니다. 

 10명이 하면 1/10, 100명이 하면 

 1/ 100의 힘밖에 들지 않기 때문입니다. 

 자기가 직접 무엇을 해 보지 않은 사람은 

 그 일이 얼마나 힘든지를 모르기 때문에 

 꼭 자기가 직접 해봐야 그것이 힘든 것을 압니다. 

 소나무를 캐는 것도 그러합니다.

 소나무를 직접 캐본 사람만 소나무 옮기기가 

 얼마나 힘든 일인지 알지 그 외에는 잘 모릅니다. 

 월명동 자연성전 조경에 참석하지 않은 사람들은 

 산에 있는 소나무를 그대로 살려서 

 돌을 쌓은 줄로 아는 사람들도 있습니다. 

 정명석 목사는 그렇게 아는 사람들에게는 

 그렇다고 말하기도 했습니다. 

 여기 소나무는 손 안대고 정말로 자연스럽게 남겼다고 하면 

 사람들은 정말 힘이 안든 것으로 생각합니다. 

 그러나 정명석 목사가 나무 한 그루를 캐다 심기까지는 

 혓바닥을 깨물 정도였습니다. 

 캐온 것도 힘들지만, 어떤 나무는 심기 위해서 

 바위를 나흘 동안 파서 심기도 했습니다. 

 그렇게 힘들게 옮긴 나무는 다행히 한 그루도 

 죽지 않고 다 살았습니다. 

 죽을까봐 건성으로 하지 않고 정성스럽게 하니 

 다 살았던 것입니다. 

 정명석 목사는 나무를 옮겨 심는 과정을 통해 

 사람들이 ‘무엇이 존재하는 것이 쉽게 되는 것이 

 아니라는 것’을 알면 좋겠다고 생각했습니다.

 이처럼 무엇이 존재하기 위해서는 

 그냥 되는 것이 아니고 굉장히 힘들게 존재하는 것입니다. 

 - 1998년 5월 12일 정명석 목사님의 아침말씀 中 -