We want to build something with our lives. Some of us would rather build bridges than walls. Others believe good fences make good neighbors.
While we have different definitions and perspectives, we each want to spend our lives building something that matters. We hope we will build a difference into the world and leave it better than we found it.
Some people build things that last for thousands of years, and take hundreds of years to build. They begin without knowing whether their building will ever be completed. Like people who plant trees, they may never see their planning and building come to fruition.
No matter how long it will take to build, no matter how long we hope it will last, we continue. We put one brick on top of others, one at a time, because that is how we build. Each day, one at a time, we build whatever it is we are building.
We begin at the base, checking to see our walls are straight and true. One brick at a time, one day at a time, we build. We pay attention, fitting everything together, leaving room to expand and contract. We work at our own pace, building and learning, asking for help when we need it.
We may be building something contemporary or classic, spacious or cozy. What we build, and how we build it, reflect the deep truths of who we are.
Some of us want to build the world into a more productive place, or a more comfortable one. Some of us are building for ourselves, some for people they have never met.
The Who? and the Where? do not shape our building nearly as much as the Why?
What difference are you building into the world today?
When will your building be completed?
[Image by Martyn Wright]
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