Arranged by
Thorwaldsen wrought long, and with earnest enthusiasm, upon his statue of the Christ; but when at last it was completed, a deep sadness settled over him. When asked the reason for this, he replied, “this is the first of my works with which I have ever felt satisfied. Till now my ideal has always been far beyond what I could execute; but it is no longer so. I shall never have a great idea again.” Satisfaction with his work was to him the sure indication that he had reached his best achievement. He would grown no more, because there was now no longing in is soul for anything better. He recognized this, and hence his pain of heart.
In all life this law applies. Hunger is a mark of health, and the want of appetite proclaims disease. The cessation of the desire for knowledge shows that intellectual growth has ended. So, in spiritual life, unsatisfaction is the token of health. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Blessed are the unsatisfied. Blessed are they who long for more and more. The mark of healthy spiritual life is an intense thirst for God, a deep, passionate yearning fro closer, fuller, richer, more satisfying communion with God himself. The ideal Christian life is one of insatiable thirst, of quenchless yearning, of divine discontent, wooed ever on by visions of new life, new joy, and new attainment. The best thing in us is never what we are, what we have already reached, but the longing for that which is yet higher and better.