Devotional 2-27-09

Scripture: Job 33: 31-33
Listen Job and attend to me; be silent and I myself will speak. If you have any arguments, answer me; speak and I would gladly find you proved right; but it you have none, listen to me: keep silence and I will teach you wisdom.

The following was actually not my dream, but I liked it so much that I want to share it with you --

The Interview with God Poem

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 though they had never lived."

God's hand 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?"

"To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved."

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

"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 is one who needs the least."

"To learn that there are people who love them deary, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings."

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

"To learn that it is not enough that they forgive 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."

(Author unknown)

Closing Prayer:
Oh, heavenly Father, we realize that there are many things about your children that surprise and disappoint you. But please, "don't give up on us." We hope that you will regard us as "a work in progress" as we try to absorb the wisdom that you have spread before us and as we strive to emulate your son whom you sent to us as an example to live by. And, Father, make us constantly aware that you are with us -- always.

Charlie Lewis