There are a thousand ways we could begin this—approaching the matter from every conceivable angle. But why waste good ink on foreplay? Let us address the most mouthwatering portion first.
Desire.
Or, as we might more affectionately call it, the Big D.
Everyone wants to know who has the biggest, who has the strongest, who possesses one merely for decoration, and who has actually learned what to do with theirs. And despite what polite society has attempted to convince us… size does matter. At least where desire is concerned.
A small Desire requires very little of a man. Feed it, entertain it, give it somewhere comfortable to lie down, and before long it will convince him that contentment and fulfillment are the same thing.
A larger Desire is far less mannerly. It disturbs the peace and tt follows you into the night. While crossing borders without asking permission. It makes a man leave familiar gardens in search of water he cannot yet prove exists.
The old travelers understood something about this.
You do not cross a desert because you are mildly thirsty.
There must be something within you that considers the possibility of the oasis worth the inconvenience of the sand.
Perhaps that is why I have become suspicious of people who speak endlessly about what they want.
Wanting is cheap.
Desire has expenses.
It will charge you in time, discipline, embarrassment, failure, patience, and occasionally the humiliation of discovering that you are not yet the man required to possess the thing you have been asking for.
That last invoice is particularly offensive.
I know. For I have received a few ” You are delusional” is what I have been called… Another D too big for my britches, I presume.
And this may be where we misunderstand the Big D entirely.
The question is not simply how big is yours? Any fool can exaggerate measurements. The better question is: How much of it can you carry?
For what good is an enormous Desire in the hands of a man without the discipline to govern it? Appetite without mastery does not make a God. It makes a servant—and a poor one at that.
So perhaps some of us do not fail to attain what we aspire to because heaven denied us, fortune overlooked us, or the world conspired against us.
Perhaps—and I say this with all due humility—
some of us simply came up a little short.
Not in intelligence.
Not in talent.
Not even in opportunity.
Just in D.
Our Desire was large enough to imagine the kingdom, but not yet large enough to endure the journey required to reach it.
Fortunately, unlike certain other measurements men concern themselves with…
this one can grow.
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