Oyasama once said:
“Faith in God is to believe in God just as you do in your own parent who gave you birth. Then your faith will become genuine.”
Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 104
It is not always easy for parents to please their children. Suppose you are trying to pacify your children. No matter how hard you try to calm them down or what sweets you give them, they may not respond the way you want them to. In fact, they may have a tantrum and cry harder.
In contrast, parents are easy for their children to please. Even a simple act like looking at them and smiling can make them happy. If they receive a birthday present from their children, they are in seventh heaven and may even shed tears of joy. They will cherish that present forever, too. That is how great their love for their children is.
God, the Parent of all humankind, worked hard to create us and carefully crafted an environment that is filled with all kinds of blessings to enable us to live the Joyous Life, where we can experience delight and happiness. Indeed, life itself is the most thoughtful gift God has given us.
Yet, what if we fill our lives with complaints and dissatisfaction? How sad God must feel! It must pain God greatly to see us throw our lives away, saying: “I can’t enjoy my life,” “I don’t want to live anymore,” “I can’t wait to die,” and so forth.
Children can be regarded as full-fledged human beings once they begin to consider their parents’ feelings and try to find ways to bring joy to their parents.
Surely, it is not difficult for us, God’s children, to bring joy to our Parent. All we need to do is simply savor the joy of life, which is a gift from God, and express our gratitude for it from the bottom of our heart.