This
is the story of First Goat. First Goat lived long ago in the before the before
time. He lived there, just north of south and little east of west, with all the
other first animals. There were First Dog, First Horse, First Elephant, First
Chicken, and all the others. And they all got along. First Rabbit would go for
walks with First Fox without any worries because First Rabbit knew that First
Fox had a taste for broccoli and not rabbit stew. Even First Mosquito preferred
fruit juice.
The
world was new. It was so new not everything had happened yet. And not
everything that had happened had happened completely. Things had not yet stuck
in their final place. Sometimes the grass would start out green in the morning
but turn to purple around noon. It usually turned green again before night –
but even night sometimes came early and sometimes came late. Sometimes the sun
rose in the east, but sometimes it rose in the north. Things were still new.
They had not stuck.
Some
things were so new they had not happened yet at all. One day, the first rain
fell. This surprised the first animals. But they found it refreshing. They were
dry, dusty, and dirty. They needed the first bath. As the rain fell on their
noses and on their tongues, they became thirsty. The first puddle formed. The
animals gathered around it. First Goat was surprised to see the reflection of
the beautiful blue sky in the water. The reflection was so clear, the puddle
seemed to contain the whole sky.
Suddenly,
First Goat remembered his thirst. Afraid the other animals might drink before
he did, he
pushed them out of the way, butting and kicking. He began to gulp
furiously. But remember – everything had not yet stuck. Would you believe First
Goat gulped so fast and so hard that the sky’s reflection came unstuck he drank it up right
off the puddle? And now First Goat was full of the reflection of the sky.
With
the sky in his belly, First Goat became very, very, very hungry. He began to
eat and eat and eat. But he could not get full. After all, how can you fill the
sky? He ate grass, he ate bark, he even ate bugs – but you can’t fill the sky
with grass and bark and bugs. He even ate the wrapper of the first Twinkie –
left on the ground by First Litterbug.
No
matter what he ate, nothing could fill the emptiness. He tried distracting
himself by singing and dancing and playing games with the other animals. But he
was still hungry and the empty sky inside would rumble and thunder. He tried to
keep busy. He worked harder and longer. He built the first patio. Still he was
hungry. He still contained the empty reflection of the sky.
And
so have been all the goats that have come after First Goat. They still eat
anything and everything. They still make noise all the time and keep moving,
trying to satisfy the empty sky inside.
Humans
are like First Goat. We experience a great emptiness, emptiness as big as the
sky. We are full of the reflection, not of the sky, but of God. We are hungry –
hungry for God. Like First Goat, we sometimes try desperately to fill that
hunger with everything but God. We buy more and more stuff. We try to lose
ourselves in work. We try to distract ourselves with play and entertainment. We
move from place to place and from relationship to relationship. But we remain
empty and restless.
As
St. Augustine said, we are made for God and our hearts are restless until they
rest in him. Our hearts are empty until they are filled with God. Try as we
might to fill it with activity, things, or people, only God can fill our
infinite emptiness. Activity, things, and people can distract us, can even numb
us enough to forget the deep emptiness inside for a while. But they cannot fill
us. They cannot satisfy. God created us for himself and God alone can satisfy
us.
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The End -
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