THE ULTIMATE GOAL

When sculptor Auguste Rodin, famous for his great work The Thinker, was reaching the end of his long and brilliant life, a friend found him his studio weeping over a newly finished statue.  The visitor, who couldn’t understand the old man’s grief said “But it’s perfect!”  “I think so too,” responded Rodin, “And that’s why I’m weeping.”  It seems he had come to a moment o truth – the realisation that he had gone as far as his imagination and craftsmanship would take him.

Most of us have dreams and vision we strive for, and we believe when we finally achieve our goal we will feel complete.  Often the result is not what we expect.  Many young couples work hard to get a house only to have their marriage fall apart when they finally move into the house of their dreams that had focused their lives for so long.  As kids we usually found it was building the cubby house rather than playing in it that brought the gang together.   It is reaching for the goal, rather than achieving, that builds us.  It is getting it right on the way, rather than arriving that builds our self esteem.

From time to time it seems God gives us giant tasks and moments of crisis that demand everything we’ve got.  Striving for these goals has us work out what matters, and in the long run, brings the best out of us.  Vocation then, is about life’s journey, not about destination.