Let’s Build
You and me – we are builders. We are building our lives, our family, our businesses and careers, our relationships. If we are active citizens, we are building our neighborhoods and city, and our world. Yes – we are builders indeed.
The focus of the past four weeks has been on raising the awareness of how we see ourselves in the world, our viewpoint if you will. We’ve established that our viewpoint is, in fact, our faith – the lens through which we see all things. (scroll back a few posts if you’ve missed them).
Because we can see the truth of being someone building, it’s important to examine and honestly assess both the design we are working with as well as the team around us that is helping us become what we are working towards.
It’s quite fair to interject here; we are all well underway with our building projects. I, for example, am 62+ years in. You might be 49 years in or 32 years in or 80 years in. The subtle point is that we’re not starting from square one. Yet the first main point is this: It is always wise to assess, correct and redirect focus along the way. And now is a great time to do that.
Does this look like I imagined it would look when I began?
Do I have what it will take to complete it?
What should I do about this area that is clearly “off”?
These are 3 questions we often ask as we assess - if we assess. Sometimes it’s just too hard to do the assessment, so we plod on and try to make the best of things. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your hand to the plow, in being steadfast in your work, in being consistent and reliable and dependable. What I’d like to tease out of the depth of your spirit here, however, is to ask – honestly ask – if there’s a place in your design that just isn’t going as you’d dreamed it would, an area that you just haven’t allocated the time, energy and creativity to make right, to expand…or perhaps even just get it started?
There are two main principles to building that guide us, that undergird greatness in life’s pursuits; namely the principles of building on a secure and solid foundation and supporting the structure with pillars of strength. Over the next few weeks, we’ll hone in on these two key elements of Foundation and Pillars, and here’s just a few reasons why it’s so important to ponder them with sober minds and committed hearts:
If we build on a solid foundation, it will stand secure. If we are building on an unstable foundation – the whole ‘thing’ will shift and, ultimately, fall.
If we build on pillars of strength, they will uphold the load and connect all that is built. If we are building on unstable pillars – the whole roof will cave in.
Foundations and pillars are the principal elements needed for greatness in building anything – so we must ask, as we assess courageously:
What foundationally undergirds my life? My business/career? My dreams and goals?
What pillars of strength hold it all up?
Are you the foundation? Are you all the pillars? If you’re trying to be, you know that it’s exhausting work. The foundation and the pillars carry all the weight of, well, everything.
There are principles to building – things of first importance, things that always work properly, even if they are hard things to implement.
You were made to build AND to move forward in life with momentum and ease. There are ways to live and things to learn about how to build the life, family, business/career you’ve dreamt of with the strength of an unshakeable foundation on which the pillars of strength stand upright, connected, and capable. And if, like me, you’ve started to build with good intentions and dreams – and things fell apart – there is hope! There is always hope! We’re still here – there’s still enough time and enough fire in the belly! We can start anew and build again, as I trust and pray you know. The help we need is always closer than we knew.
I hope you’ll follow along and share some of what you’re building with us!
Building together!
Peace~
Craig
