God's Answers
"Come in," God said to me. "So, you would like to interview Me?"
"If you have the time," I said.
God smiled and said: "My time is called eternity and is enough to doeverything. What questions do you have in mind to ask me?"
"None that are new to you. What's the one thing that surprises you mostabout mankind?"
God answered:
"That they get bored being children, are in a rush togrow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their healthto make money and then-lose their money to restore their health. That bythinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such thatthey live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if theywill never die, and they die as if they had never lived..."
God's hands took mine and we were silent.
After a long period, I said, "May I ask you another question? As aparent, what would you ask your children to do?"
God replied with a smile:
"To learn that they cannot make anyone love them.To learn that it takes years to build trust, and a few seconds to destroyit.
To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in theirlives, but who they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good tocompare themselves to others. There will be others better or worse than theyare.
To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one whoneeds the least.
To learn that they should control their attitudes,otherwise their attitudes will control them.
To learn that it only takes afew seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takesmany years to heal them.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.
To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not knowhow to show their feelings.
To learn that money can buy everything buthappiness.
To learn that while at times they may be entitled to be upset,that does not give them the right to upset those around them.
To learn that great dreams do not require great wings, but landing gear to achieve.
To learn that true friends are scarce.
To learn that it is not always enoughthat they be forgiven by others but that they forgive themselves.
To learn that they are masters of what they keep to themselves and slavesof what they say.
To learn that they shall reap what they plant; if they plantgossip they will harvest intrigues, if they plant love they will harvesthappiness.
To learn that true happiness is not to achieve their goals but tolearn to be satisfied with what they already achieved.
To learn that happiness is a decision. They decide to be happy with what they are and have, or die from envy and jealousy of what theylack.
To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see somethingtotally different.
To learn that those who are honest with themselves, without considering theconsequences, go far in life.
To learn that even though they may think theyhave nothing to give, when a friend cries with them, they find the strengthto appease the pain.
To learn that by trying to hold on to loved ones,they very quickly push them away; and by letting go of those they love, they willbe side by side forever.
To learn that even though the word "love" has many different meanings, itloses value when it is overstated.
To learn that they can never do somethingextraordinary for Me to love them; I simply do.
To learn that the shortestdistance they could be from Me is the distance of a prayer."