a man named Niggle.
Niggle was an artist who was always getting distracted
from his work. Neighbors and friends would ask favors of
him constantly, and as he neared the date for his long
“journey” (a metaphor for death), he worried he might never
finish his greatest work—a painting of a tree. When it came
time for his departure, the artist looked at his painting, and
as he feared, saw an unfinished work—nothing but a small
leaf and a few details. The majority of the painting he hoped
would someday happen never did.
We all can relate to such regret, the pain of leaving some
projects undone, fearing we will never return to them. But
there is an interesting twist at the end of Tolkien’s story.
When Niggle completes his journey and enters the afterlife,
he sees something he can’t believe. Sitting there, in all the
glory he imagined, is the tree he never finished.^2
The work that was not completed in this life was finished
in the next.
Many of us fear what Hemingway feared—that we will
die with important work still left in us. “We all die
unfinished symphonies,” a friend told me one morning over
breakfast. He was telling me about his dad who, on his
deathbed, made a halfhearted attempt to repent for a lifetime
of abuse. It wasn’t enough for my friend, nor should it have
been, but he realized in that moment that he had to let it go
anyway. He had to be okay with a lack of resolution, at least
in this life. Niggle learned the same thing.
When it comes to your work, there will be things you