Be Whole in Life

Once a circle missed a wedge. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted or never had.

There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive, she can lose someone and still feel like a complete person.

Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling bee, where no matter how many words you've gotten right, you're disqualified if you make one mistake. Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses one third of its games and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose. When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, I believe, is what God asks of us -- not "Be perfect", not "Don't even make a mistake", but "Be whole".

If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.

相关单词：perfectly

perfectly解释：adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

perfectly例句：

The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。

Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

相关单词：yearn

yearn解释：v.想念；怀念；渴望

yearn例句：

We yearn to surrender our entire being.我们渴望着放纵我们整个的生命。

Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

相关单词：condemn

condemn解释：vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

condemn例句：

Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

相关单词：brilliance

brilliance解释：n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

brilliance例句：

I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。

The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。

相关单词：aspire

aspire解释：vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

aspire例句：

Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。

I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。