A Love Affair

May 30th IOW

“…the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people.....Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." From the Last Lecture called “Romancing the Brick Wall.”

I must say the title of the lecture the quote came from today is very interesting. “Romancing the brick wall.” What do you mean romancing it? Doesn’t that mean to carry on a love affair with it? Shouldn’t they come down not up! “No, Karen,” I had to tell myself, “it’s more about exaggerating or inventing detail or incident about brick walls by taking a closer look at them.”

Running down the road of life enjoying the scenery as it goes by with the map of our choice in our hands to keep us on track. Suddenly the road takes a turn and bang! We find ourselves face first in a solid brick wall. Wiping the mortar off my nose from the many times this has happened to me I stepped back to look and observe instead of get angry and frustrated.

Brick walls definitely are there to stop people who don’t want something badly enough. Any signs of resistance, hard labor, or longer paths and quickly the task at hand are often abandoned. For example, the writer who works hard at getting their writing to a publisher. Around every corner seems to be a brick wall stopping them in their course to be published. Soon it can look like a maze at some amusement park you have to try and get out of without crawling over or under any partitions.

I was told once that if you want something badly enough you would go after it and not allow the elements in life to stop you. Our plans can be delayed, changed, rerouted, or temporarily put to a halt but whether we abandon them all together and give up comes from us. It’s our choice to either sit down at the bottom of life’s brick walls and pout or pity ourselves or we can keep on going finding new routes, new maps, new ways of getting where we want to go.

Bingo! “Getting where WE want to go!” No wonder God uses brick walls to stop us from going down paths that WE have chosen that are not the roads He wants us to travel. I’ll be the first to confess I didn’t handle a few of my brick walls as well as I should have. The epilepsy that snuck into my life uninvited put up a huge big brick wall that was going to stop me from doing many things. Rerouting the plans I had, changing the direction to my life’s road I spent way too much time at the base of the wall pouting and throwing my pity parties. Finally I was given a path over and around the wall but the choice was mine. I could either stay where I was or get up and take this alternative route set before me.

What a blessing to know that the brick wall wasn’t there to shut me out but to protect me from what was on the other side. Rerouting my life to places of bigger blessings and greater spiritual maturity. Praise the Lord!

CLOSING THOUGHT: Thinking of the reason or purpose of brick walls makes my heart go back to the scripture in Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) where God said, “…For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Although we think God might strike us down with a lightning bolt because of our behavior, He’s not in the business of dropping brick walls on us either to where we have to watch our head for tumbling bricks.

What needs to go tumbling is our resistance and stubborn attitude as we begin to appreciate the brick wall for what it can mean to us. A tool used to protect us from harm, getting us on the right road, directing us down the right paths. Each brick working together to build a firm foundation for a better Christian walk resistant free, solid and well preserved. Made of materials that are virtually maintenance free that are able to resist the elements life has to throw at us, capable of standing against the general wear and tear of the world with Christ as the mortar between each brick holding it all together.

An attention-grabber to me in all this was the fact that in the art of brickwork they use a tool to adjust the vertical and horizontal planes that is called the “spirit level.” As God has His plans for us we can rest assure that He has His own “spirit level” tool used to adjust the vertical and horizontal planes in our lives. The vertical plane in regards to our spiritual relationship with Him and the horizontal plane having to do with the relationships we have with those around us. As with any brickwork, the vertical joints are staggered on purpose and made not to line up thus making the wall more stable and able to bear weight.

A love affair with the brick wall, no way! Our love should be for our Heavenly Father. The One who is willing to put them up to get us where He wants us to go, safe and sound, stronger and resistant free.

This week, Lori is hosting "In 'Other' Words" at her site, All You Have To Give . Hobble on over there and read and share with others on today’s quote. If you run into a brick wall along the way, back off, take a look and turn to God for new instructions, new maps.