What are your most important commitments? What are your most significant goals? Are there visions for a changed future you would like to see materialize? Well, what are you doing about the possibilities you imagine? How serious are you about fulfilling these dreams?
A few weeks ago we had the privilege of attending a conference in Houston where the primary speaker was Sister Joan Chittister. A Benedictine sister who has spent 60 years committed to fulfilling her life’s calling in a host of personally demanding ways, she told those of us in attendance a provocative story to challenge our own focus and commitment.
Many centuries ago, Sister Joan told us, a novice monk traveled to the Egyptian countryside to take up residence and to learn from an old desert father living there in solitude. The climate was harsh and the spiritual demands upon the monks living in near isolation in the desert were great. Loneliness, privation and hardships of many kinds were among the constant trials. In the course of time the novice saw several other young novices come to live in the desert but leave within a few short months to return to more comfortable surroundings. He wondered about this.
“Father,” the novice asked his mentor one day, “I have seen many other seekers come to the desert and leave rather quickly. But you have stayed in the desert to learn from its rigors and deepen your faithfulness for decades. Tell me, why do some stay to face the challenges of the desert and receive its gifts, while others go?”
In response, the old desert father told this story. “Once my dog saw a rabbit in the bushes,” he said. “He immediately ran after the rabbit and he howled and barked and yelped.” Soon other dogs from the surrounding hills and valleys heard my dog and they, too, joined the chase. There was an enormous uproar of howling and barking and a great expenditure of energy in the effort. But soon, the other dogs tired of the chase and went back home. Only my dog kept running. Now do you understand?” the old man asked.
“No father, I still don’t understand,” the young novice responded.
And so the old desert father continued, “You see, only my dog continued with the chase because only my dog saw the rabbit.”
Sister Joan’s point seems to have been that dedication to a purpose greater than ourselves for decade after decade, when progress may be slow and challenges may be great, takes more than casual commitment. If we are only following the crowd, yapping and barking with the rest of the group, joining in the chase without much understanding of the real purpose of our life’s efforts, we will tire and give up without achieving much. But if we see the rabbit – if we claim a clear and compelling goal for ourselves, perhaps a God-given vision for our own futures and for others, then seeing that vision will give us the stamina necessary to pursue it, despite difficulties.
Have you spotted a rabbit worth chasing?
