Let's Build Together

     “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.  Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”  Matthew 7:24-27

     Do you have all the answers to life?  Do you?  Who has the undeniable and undisputed correct outlook to life?  Who has THE answers to parenting?  Which among you have THE answers on teaching?  Which of you have the ONE TRUE way to live a proper life?  Have you learned it all?  If you have, congratulations!  I’ll go and make sure your reservation in the local cemetery is ready.

   Did I just lose you?  IF you have all the answers, that MUST mean that you have completed your life on this earth and it is time to push up daisies.  No?  Still kicking?  Hmm, then all of life’s answers have not been revealed.  Yet, we sure do act as if we know everything there is to know.  I will bet that you could ask my seventy-year-old mother and she will be the first to tell you that she is still learning (whether she wants to or not).  My daddy raised eight children, the oldest which is in his mid-sixties.  Before my daddy passed away, he and I talked (mostly he talked and I was listening) about his parenting.  In his own way, he admitted that his parenting skills were not perfect.  He spanned FORTY-SOMETHING years of being a daddy and didn’t have all the answers???  Do you know what that told me?  There is NO degree, diploma, or certificate of completion on the “knowledge of life”.  It is ongoing.  It is continuous.  It also reminds me that I am still alive.  God wants me to learn more.  He wants me to acquire new knowledge and new experiences, to share with my new family.

     Who can do it better?  Is there an answer to that?  I know this, we tend to resist being shown a different, maybe slicker way of doing things.  A defensive screen goes up as to say, “I’m not an idiot.”  We resist learning new methods.  It’s ok to admit it.  There are things that I struggle with on looking at a different approach.  Other things, I want to smack myself when shown something new, for not seeing it for myself.  It’s a thirst to learn something new. 

     When it comes to a new family, ONE way simply will not work.  Two minds that have different approaches to the same situation.  Neither are wrong, they are just different in execution.  What do we do?  Adapt to it, don’t resist.  The foundation of the house, represented in Matthew chapter 7, will not be strong with two “builders” working independently.  Their singular methods may not conform and the house will crumble.  NO BUENO!  Instead, it takes combining the skills, molding them into a united strategy. 

     Just prior to writing this, I caught an article about a family’s visit to Yosemite National Park and they saw a tree with a sign, “The Faithful Couple.”  They read the information plaque and it stated that two separate trees had begun to grow.  Over the centuries, the two trunks grew closer to the other, until they slowly merged into one large trunk.  Now, they stand together as one.  How awesome is that representation.   One tree did not dominate the other.  They both worked to “meet in the middle”, reinforcing each other. 

     As the countdown to my upcoming wedding to a beautiful Christian lady, I think about this “two-in-one” tree and pray that this is what God guides us to become.  Two hearts, loving as one.  Two minds, working as one.  Merging our ideals, skills, and personalities.  Joining together to strengthen one another, not only for this life but our spiritual lives as well. 

     For those with significant others, are you climbing and growing together?