January is coming to a close. Usually it is a long month, but to me it felt like it flew by. Politics, pandemic and people all plowed through like a snowplow. Every where you turned there was one of these things waiting for us. Politics are a turmoil and our world is amped up waiting for the next shoe to fall. People are getting sick and angry, overwhelmed with being isolated. We have lost our ability to interact with people on a human level. We discard people’s thoughts and fears, we have forgotten how to empathize with our fellow man. We all are so trapped in our own world and we don’t always think about someone else’s trials. We as people feel like we have become a cross from Lord of The Flies and Farenheit 451. Everyone out for themselves and censorship abounds. I also think we censure ourselves.
The picture that I picked for this blog struck a chord for a couple of different reasons. Remember when we were younger we would say go take a long walk on a short bridge? Or build a bridge and get over it? Jumping off a bridge, just to name a few. But truly think about the bridges in our lives. We build a bridge towards our careers and relationships. Starts out as a little gravel path that we work on and add more planks to take us towards that next step. We take a plank and build on a relationship that bridges two people together. It can be a short bridge over a creek or it can be a bridge that goes the length of a bay. We build interlocking bridges of our hearts and our lives. That initial bridge started with our parents and the foundations they laid out to make that bridge sturdy. Each piece placed with love and guidance. We sometimes forget to thank our bridge builders. We couldn’t travel as far as we have if they didn’t start that foundation. If they didn’t show us those basic skills in life.
Sometimes the bridges are short because someone got tired of building. They wanted a golden gate but ended up with a broken gate. They waited for someone to do the work, to build the steps and foundation. That bridge is quaint and will always be special but it isn’t the bridge that is going to last. Doesn’t mean great memories didn’t happen, doesn’t mean that it didn’t have a chance to grow, the builders waited for government assistance to finish what they didn’t want to take their resources to finish. These small bridges can represent the people in our life for a season be it a friend, co worker or lover. We all have those bridges in life. And they give us a stroll down memory lane. But most of us build more to those bridges. We change jobs, we get promotions, we meet new people, we fall in love, we build on those bridges. But at a point we have to decide who gets to keep building our bridge or they get off the next exit.
There are so many bridges and pathways in our lives. Some have been fog covered like the Golden Gate, some as open like the bridge to that famous wizardry castle. Some are in need of repair, some are as intricate as the people that built them. Kind of like life. Our brains get foggy with life’s trials and we loose our purpose and vision. We trust that the bridge will be there to carry us safely to the other side. But sometimes that fog clouds our thoughts. Sometimes the twists and turns in life make us want that magic wand to wave away the challenges we face but there is a wise wizard who knows those twists and turns makes us stronger to cross the bridges in life. Those that need repairs, their foundation stays strong but the outside has been covered with graffiti, the dirt from world, the worn spots, the potholes in life. If we don’t stop and realize our bridge needs to be repaired, we become that quaint bridge to no where. If we don’t repair that bridge, how can we allow more people in our life. If we just cover the pothole but don’t repair it, well that temporary cover is going to break down again. There may be these fancy covers and fillers, but if we don’t get to the base of the pothole, it breaks down. We have alot of potholes in life, self doubt, past abuses, insecurities, being taken for granted, selfish attitudes, never getting down to the root of why we feel the way we do, we just cover it up. How about we start repairing our bridges. Yes so that others can join that journey across the bridge but more for the builder of that bridge. Decide who needs to pay a toll, who needs to take a different route and who needs to cross that gate. Every bridge doesn’t have to be wide open. Every bridge doesn’t have a troll under it. Maybe we are the trolls on both sides. Maybe we build the bridges, maybe we know there are going to be moments of no growth but end the end, we walk that bridge with the sun on our face and the water rushing beneath us. That we see where we started but where we want it to end. We build bridges in our relationships, our work, our lives. It isn’t always an easy process but it would be better to build that bridge than so afraid to even start it. Taking the leap, taking the first step. The bridges we have built in life are in one state or another, it is up to us for the maintenance.
This picture made me want to stop and look around. Not for where it ended but the journey across it. To feel the wind in my hair, a wind of change. To feel the sun warm my skin, warm my bones, to light my heart on fire for the people on the bridge, my bridge. To hear the water rolling under my feet, the little fish building their bridges on the reef, the tranquility of knowing my bridge is going in the right direction. I know that my bridge has potholes that I get tripped up in. My rear view mirror wants to bring up all my mistakes during construction, rear view mirrors try to make objects appear closer than they appear. However, no matter how large those objects are, they have formed who I am. The grafitti of negative self talk, the grime that makes me ashamed of myself, the constant need for repairs and care that sometimes get neglected while pursuing to help build someone else’s bridge, the mistakes and wrong turns that have happened that detoured the construction, those failures that tried to implode my bridge. Always a part of me, and you. Guess we need to decide if we back track or look forward. Looking forward we see the horizon of possibilities and construction. Of adventure, of moments to sit and hang those legs over the bridge with your toes dipped in the water. The hanging on tight while climbing the slope, tying a knot in that rope and keep climbing. That view should excite us all. The building of bridges of mind, heart and soul. Building a bridge back to who you truly are meant to be and a bridge to accept who you are, flaws, graffiti and all. I am building that bridge. It is always in constant construction. I am realizing that there are always going to be those that are critical of the construction. They won’t care for the fuller curves, the caution signs, the loud music or the wind in their hair. They will criticize the paint job looking for newer, sleeker bridges, looking for the bridges that they have never driven thinking it will be a different ride. There will be some that question the sincerity of the builder, things like is that how you truly see it or are you just saying that, just keeping the traffic moving and not being authentic comes in question. They will question the builder but never the driver. There will always be bigger and better bridges, there were always be different traveling partners and people in this bridge of life. I want the people that help me build that bridge, build the bridges in relationship and in love and life, in work success and trials. I want to make those connections and not just rushing to the end of that bridge. I know the bridge in this life is only going to last so long and the bridge to heaven is the most important bridge we could ever build and He is the ultimate contractor. He looks beyond our grime and graffiti and grace steps in.
So look at this picture, look at the journey across these calm waters knowing that the bridge is sturdy to carry you across the moments in life. Make a tighter bridge in connections, bridge your hearts and minds, build those bridges and be proud of who you are and build that bridge back to who you truly are. I am building and will keep building, how about you? So as we bridge to February the month of love and romance, let’s thank January for her moments, her lessons and the steps built on this bridge of life. Stay well all and keep building.
