Once a circle missed a wedge.The circle wanted tobe whole,so it went around looking for its missingpiece.But because it was incomplete and thereforecould roll only very slowly,it admired the flowersalong the way.It chatted with worms.It enjoyed thesunshine.It found lots of different pieces,but noneof them fit.So it left them all by the side of the roadand kept on searching.Then one day the circle founda piece that fit perfectly.It was so happy.Now it could be whole,with nothing missing.Itincorporated the missingpiece into itself and began to roll.Now that it was a perfect circle,itcould roll very fast,too fast tonotice the flowers or talking to the worms.When it realized howdifferent the world seemed when it rolled so quickly,it stopped,left its found piece by the sideof the road and rolled slowly away.
The lesson of the story,I suggested,was that in some strange sense we are more wholewhen we are missingsomething.The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man.He willnever know what it feels like to yearn,to hope,to nourish his soul with the dream ofsomething better.He will never know the experience ofhaving someone who loves him give himsomething he has always wanted or never had.
There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations,who hasbeen brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doingso.There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strongenough to go through a tragedy and survive,who can lose someone and still feel like acomplete person.
Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us for failing.Life is not a spellingbee,where no matter how many words you've gotten right,you're disqualified if you make onemistake.Life ismore like a baseball season,where even the best team loses one-third of itsgames and even the worst team has its days of brilliance.Our goal is to win more games thanwe lose.
When we accept that imperfection is part of being human,and when we can continue rollingthrough life andappreciate it,we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspireto.That,I believe,is what God asks of us not "Be perfect",not "Don't even make amistake",but "Be whole."
If we are brave enough to love,strong enough to forgive,generous enough to rejoice inanother's happiness,and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for usall,then we can achieve a fulfillmentthat no other living creature will ever know.