I dreamed I had an interview with God.
“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time,” I said.
God smiled. “My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?”
“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered:
“That they get bored with childhood, they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money… and then lose their money to restore their health.
That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future.
That they live as if they will never die, and die as if they had never lived.”
God’s hand took mine and we were silent for a while.
Then I asked, “As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”
God replied with a smile:
“To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved.
To learn that it is not most valuable to have things in life, but to have people in life.
To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to one another.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.
To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them.
To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but one who needs the least.
To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings.
To learn that two people can look at the exact same thing and see it completely differently.
To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”
“Thank you for your time,” I said humbly. “Is there anything else you would like your children to know?”
God smiled and said:
“Just know that I am here. Always.”