6. Alchemy of the Heart (Ages 6 to 10) Lesson 6

Forgiving God

Making Peace with God

Have you ever been mad at God? Sometimes people are mad at God but they do not admit it, even to themselves. Sometimes very sad things happen. People lose someone they love, like a beloved grandma, a brother or sister, sometimes even a mother or father. Has anything like this ever happened to you or anyone you know?

People sometimes wonder; why did God let this happen to me? God does not “let” things happen. Things happen because of the karma and the lessons for each soul. We always have a choice when something difficult happens. We can accept that God has a plan for every soul or we can get angry and blame God or someone else. Sometimes people even blame themselves.

Being angry with God can make us act many ways. Sometimes it makes us act resentful and angry at everyone. Sometimes it makes us get very quiet and not interested in things. Sometimes it makes us want to eat and sleep more than we need. Sometimes it makes us think about our work or school so much that we do not think about how we really feel inside.

But we always have a choice. If something bad happens to us, we can choose to send love to everyone who feels hurt and try to thank God for what we do have. Sometimes our soul has a lesson to learn from pain. Is there anything God wants us to learn from this experience?

Stories of Forgiveness

1. One time there was a very big forest fire that burned down many of the houses and stores in a town in California. A man and his wife watched everything they owned go up in the flames. Instead of being angry about what they lost, they hugged each other and thanked God that they still had each other.

2. A long time ago in China, there was a man who told stories. His name was Lieh Tze. He told this story about a man, his son and his horse.

The man had a horse which one day disappeared. His neighbors came by to say how sorry they were. The man said to them: “Why do think this is a problem?”

A few days later the horse returned, with several other wild horses. The neighbors came over again, this time to congratulate him for the good fortune of having many horses. The man said to them: “Why do think this is good luck?”

Before long, with all these horses around the house, the man’s son began to ride. One day he was thrown off and broke his leg. His neighbors came by to say how sorry they were for the latest calamity. The man said to them: “Why do think this is misfortune?”

Sometime later, a war broke out and all the young men had to go to fight. Because the man’s son was lame from his broken leg, he did not have to go to the war.

The man might have been angry about losing his horse and his son breaking a leg. But he quietly accepted the events and watched for the hidden blessing.

When we are angry at God, it is usually because deep down we feel hurt and have not been able to accept what happened in our lives. It will help our souls if we look inside ourselves and try to find out if we are angry with God and to let go of the anger and the hurt. It is not always easy, but if we do not do it, that anger can stay hidden inside of us for our entire life.