Bridge Builder or DITCH Digger
The title says it all, are you a bridge builder or a ditch digger.
Lets assume that you are a bridge builder. Think about what a bridge does, it is a link across a divide. Building a bridge if you are a construction worker is a long hard process. It possibly takes months or years of work to erect it to the point people have enough trust to walk or drive over it. You get the picture, correct?
A ditch on the other hand is simply that it is something that divides. It can be as shallow or deep as you want it to be. Some ditches are small enough you can step over them while some are as deep as the Grand Canyon which to the mere mortal is not possible to cross. Again you get the picture, right?
What makes us as humans bridge builders or ditch diggers? My short answer is influence and experience. I have written often that God placed in us from birth the ability to love and accept others. We learn as we grow to create hate and division. Consider young kids that play together. They know not that race, gender, and sexual orientation is suppose to be the ditch that divides. In their small uninfluenced world kids are kids and they simply have fun TOGETHER.
Where does it all change and why? I could write forever about my opinions on this however I would rather you reflect on your own life and answer the question. As you ponder this please begin to meditate on how you feel when you dig a ditch and then dig it so deep even you can't cross the vast divide. We so often establish such a stance that building a bridge seems like a long lost dream.
I dream of the day when bridge builders out number ditch diggers. I dream of the day when people learn to love and not hate. I dream of the day when life, love, and the pursuit of happiness matters. I dream of the day when the model of Jesus is more important than our position on highly divisive matters. I dream of the day when we all share the tools to build bridges together.
This dream starts with me so I am going to go out and build some bridges. I am also going to continue to fill in the ditches I have dug over the years in the hopes people will trust enough to cross over and join me in the middle.
peace to you
dale
Lets assume that you are a bridge builder. Think about what a bridge does, it is a link across a divide. Building a bridge if you are a construction worker is a long hard process. It possibly takes months or years of work to erect it to the point people have enough trust to walk or drive over it. You get the picture, correct?
A ditch on the other hand is simply that it is something that divides. It can be as shallow or deep as you want it to be. Some ditches are small enough you can step over them while some are as deep as the Grand Canyon which to the mere mortal is not possible to cross. Again you get the picture, right?
What makes us as humans bridge builders or ditch diggers? My short answer is influence and experience. I have written often that God placed in us from birth the ability to love and accept others. We learn as we grow to create hate and division. Consider young kids that play together. They know not that race, gender, and sexual orientation is suppose to be the ditch that divides. In their small uninfluenced world kids are kids and they simply have fun TOGETHER.
Where does it all change and why? I could write forever about my opinions on this however I would rather you reflect on your own life and answer the question. As you ponder this please begin to meditate on how you feel when you dig a ditch and then dig it so deep even you can't cross the vast divide. We so often establish such a stance that building a bridge seems like a long lost dream.
I dream of the day when bridge builders out number ditch diggers. I dream of the day when people learn to love and not hate. I dream of the day when life, love, and the pursuit of happiness matters. I dream of the day when the model of Jesus is more important than our position on highly divisive matters. I dream of the day when we all share the tools to build bridges together.
This dream starts with me so I am going to go out and build some bridges. I am also going to continue to fill in the ditches I have dug over the years in the hopes people will trust enough to cross over and join me in the middle.
peace to you
dale
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