God shares life lessons with the interviewer about humankind and being a parent. Some of the things that surprise God most about humankind are that they get bored with childhood and rush to grow up only to long to be children again. They also lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. By thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present. As a parent, some lessons God wants to teach are to let themselves be loved rather than make others love them, not to compare themselves to others, and that a rich person needs the least rather than has the most. God also wants children to learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.

1. Interview with God

2. I
dreamed
I had an
interview
with God.

3. “So you
would like
to
interview
me?”
God asked

4. “If you
have
the
time”
I said.

5. God smiled
“My time is eternity”
“What questions do you
have in mind for me?”

6. “What surprises you most about
humankind?...”
God answered...

7. “That they get bored
with childhood.
They rush to grow
up
and then long to be
children again.”

8. “That they lose their health
to make money
and then lose their money
to restore their health.”

9. “That by thinking anxiously
about the future,
they forget the presen
such that they live in
neither
the present nor the future.”

10. That they live as if they will never die,
and die as if they had never lived.”

11. God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for awhile
And then I asked...

12. “As a parent,
what are some of
life’s lessons
you want your
children to learn?”
God replied with a smile

13. “To learn they cannot
make anyone love them
What they can do
is let themselves be loved.”

14. “To learn that it is
not good
to compare
themselves
to others.”

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

16. “To learn that
it only takes
a few seconds
to open profound
wounds in persons
we love,

17. And it
takes many
years to
heal them.”

18. “To learn to forgive by
practicing forgiveness.”

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

20. “To learn that two
people
can look at the same
thing
and see it differently.”

21. But that they must
forgive themselves.”
“To learn that it is not always enough
that they be forgiven by others.

22. “And to learn that I am here
always.”