An Interview with God

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

God asked.

"So, you would like to interview me?"

I said.

"If you have the time,"

God smiled.

"My time is eternity; what questions do you have in mind to ask 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 hands took mine and we were silent for a while and 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. What they can do is to let themselves be loved."

"To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives."

"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others."

"To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least."

"To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons one loves, and that it may

take many years to heal them."

"To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness."

"To learn that there are persons who love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings."

"To learn that money can buy everything but ... happiness."

"To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it very differently."

"To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they must also forgive themselves."

"And to learn that I am here -- always."

 [Author Unknown]