Building blocks

I attended high school in the Northern suburbs a good few years ago; and as per the usual routine – most Monday’s were assembly. I enjoyed assembly; and not only because it meant that generally Monday class periods were shorter J, but also because of visitors we would get to listen to as speakers during the mornings. However, there was one particular sir – who whenever it was his turn to do the weekly devotions, he would often ..almost always..speak about one thing. The bricks of the school hall.

So in some way, when he walked up to the podium, I knew this was coming! But he made sense. He often referred to each brick that was laid to build the school as representation of each one of us. The cement binding us all together would be our commonalities, but more so – our faith in God. And it must have worked to always speak about it, because today – more than 10 years later, I still remember that specific sir with this message.

‘Elkeen is ‘n baksteen in die muur wat deelmaak van die skool’.

In another way – our lives can also be compared to building blocks. Different pieces of blocks, different colours all scattered in one container – some of our containers are even broken, some of us don’t even have containers – but we have blocks.

I had a beautiful conversation with a friend Friday evening about life in general (I love how my friends and I can just have beautiful conversations!)… our own individual internal challenges, our aspirations and hopes. It’s good to find someone that when you share your heart – you know what you’re sharing falls on ‘safe ground’.

And as we were speaking she eluded to Lego blocks…building blocks. And she said, have you ever seen how a child builds blocks. When we watch him, he/she may struggle a bit – but we allow him to. We don’t just jump in and help. The child may approach an adult to ask for help, or when we see that the kiddy has struggled for too long, we may just help with the placing of one block – so that he/she may continue. Have you seen how the little one smiles with almost relief when help arrives? Because the picture looks just a bit clearer now.

The same with life. We face daily challenges; some of the things we face aren’t once off and are lessons that we deal with over a period of time. And in the same way God looks at us from a distance. To see if we ask Him for help when we’ve struggled, or even better : when He sees that we have struggled on our own for too long, He often steps in. Such a Father.

I pray that today will be a good day for you. Consider the building blocks in your life – the things that make up and form part of your life: your family, your faith, your friendships, your hobbies…your passions – even your struggles. Everything you have been through is part of who you are.

May you not continue to build on your own, but always build knowing that God is your main architect. He longs to remove any stumbling block from your life, but more so – to help build your life into what He desires.

May the container that holds your building blocks be made whole; and may you be a source of encouragement to all who you see needs help building their blocks.

Wishing you a happy Monday.

God’s got your back J

xx