Reconstruction

Every morning on my normal route to work for the past several months I've passed a bridge that's been under construction.  The road has been closed practically all summer long.  It seems like it's taking a really long time, and I'm sure it seems like it's taking even longer to the people who had typically used that road in the past.  It would be one thing if the bridge were just being repaired or patched or reinforced, but that's not the case.  The bridge that had been there was completely destroyed and removed all the way down to the ground level, and now this new one is being totally reconstructed starting from the foundation on up.

I remember when the original bridge was demolished. The whole process of tearing it down and destroying it literally only took a day or two. There was a sign announcing that the road was going to be closed, then I saw a crew show up one morning, and then practically the next day the entire bridge was gone. It's amazing to me how quickly it was dismantled in comparison to how long it's taking for it to be reconstructed.

I'm sure that there was a reason that bridge needed to be torn down. Everything eventually wears out. I'm sure the water that runs underneath it had eroded its foundation. I'm sure there was wear and tear from all the traffic that had driven over it. I'm sure the weather and just plain old time passing by caused it to weaken and start to fall apart.

It got me thinking about life, of course. I have a half hour drive to work...there's lots of time for thinking (when I'm not singing along with my music, that is). It got me thinking about how quickly our lives and relationships can be demolished, seemingly overnight sometimes. But the fact of the matter is that it's hardly ever something that "just happens".   It's those little things.  How the pressures of life chip away at our resolve. How negative attitudes can wear us down. How the people we hang out with leave their mark and will weaken our standards if we're not careful to surround ourselves with quality, healthy friendships. How sin eats away at our foundation unless it's addressed and dealt with.

Putting your finger in a cracked dam will only hold back the water for so long.  Putting a band-aid on a gaping wound does nothing.  Repairing potholes and cracks in a bridge will only fix the problem temporarily.

More often than not, it seems like it takes hitting rock bottom for us to acknowledge that we can't "fix" this on our own.  I love that God graciously provides us with a solution for this demolished, messed up life of ours.  I love that while we may be sitting amidst a pile of rubble in our lives, He has the ability to take those shattered ruins and rebuild our lives from the ground up.  He sees through our facade that we've patched up and tried to unsuccessfully repair ourselves.  And I love that we have a God who steps in and offers us a plan for complete and total reconstruction. 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.