One day a traveler comes across three stonecutters working in a quarry. When he asks the first stonecutter what he is doing, the reply he gets is, “Can’t you see? I am cutting a stone!” When he asks the second stonecutter he receives the response, “I am cutting this block of stone to make sure that it is square and that its dimensions are uniform so that it will fit exactly in its place in a wall.” Finally, the answer the third stonecutter gives him to the same question is, “I am building a cathedral.”
Interestingly all three stonecutters were doing the exact same thing (cutting stone) but each saw the purpose (the why) of what they were doing very differently. The first stonecutter clearly was simply doing a day’s work for a day’s pay. The second was most likely a perfectionist who gained satisfaction in his own efforts but still didn’t see the bigger picture of how he was contributing to something bigger than himself. He didn’t recognize that if not for the community building a cathedral there would be no stones for him to cut. Only the third stonecutter seemed to understand the bigger picture. Even though it was almost certain, given how long a cathedral would take to construct (often 100 or more years), that he wouldn’t see the cathedral completed, he saw how his efforts were a valuable contribution to making it happen.
When I think about all that happens each and every day at GCCS I sincerely hope that similar to the third stonecutter, we recognize that what we do contributes to something bigger than ourselves. As Christians who have been called to help to build and further God’s kingdom on earth, we have an incredible why for all our whats!
Justin DeMoor
M.Ed, B.Ed, B.A., OCT, CSPC, CSTC
Principal