The Forces of Fulfillment…

In a rushing, pressuring time, we well would pause to remind ourselves that the purpose of life, the purpose of God is to see that men find their highest happiness, their best accomplishment, their finest fulfillment. Life is for fulfillment. But there are both the fulfillers and the destroyers.

“What is the truly majestic power of the earth?” asked Phillips Brooks. “Surely not destruction!… It is the forces of fulfillment, the forces which are always crowding every being and structure out to its completest realization of itself, the forces of construction and growth; these are the real vital forces of the world. Nature takes hold of every capacity… which she finds anywhere, and turns it into life… to make each imperfection a little less imperfect, to bring each partial being a little nearer to completeness, to minister growth and not decay… not to destroy but to fulfill…. In the world at large there are the two kinds of men, the fulfilling and the destroying men. There are some men who call out the best of [others] everywhere…. There are other men whose whole mission [seems to tend toward discouragement and destruction]…. They count the tares so loud that the field grows ashamed of itself, and forgets to tell itself that there is wheat. Alas, for the city, the state, the nation or the church where mere destructive criticism has possession of men’s tongues and ears.”

Alas, for the family or for friends who gossip, who misjudge, who discourage, who seek to obstruct, to destroy, to undermine others. “Destruction calls for nothing but hatred. Fulfillment calls for sympathy, intelligence, patience and hope.”

Blessed are those who build and do not destroy, who reach out and move forward, who encourage, and strengthen faith who give hope, and help to lift men’s lives toward their finest fulfillment.