"He always dreamed of the becoming, never the being"- F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this about the hero of his autobiographical book, This Side of Paradise. As I read this, I was mesmerized by Fitzgerald's words. In life, my own especially, I feel like we are always growing, yet striving to get to a certain point. As an anxious seventeen year old, it's making it to college, and thinking that in college life will be grand. Life will be perfect. As a single twentysomething, it is marriage. If only that goal could be achieved, things would be better. For overweight people, it's getting rid of that last twenty pounds. As I grow older and learn more, I'm realizing that with each goal achieved, each new point that is reached, we always want something more. There is always something else that we reach out for. This isn't a bad thing, it is, in fact, human nature and something that is to be treasured, I've come to realize. If one ever becomes stagnant or stops changing, growing and becoming, it seems as if they have achieved perfection. Outside of Christ, this simply not possible. This is, I think, something to be feared. If I ever stop changing, stop becoming and simply begin being, I will be terrified. The becoming keeps things exciting. The becoming makes each of us better. The becoming makes us more of who we are and were created to be.