Since my daughter; son-in-law, and grand-children are on the Mission Field, I don’t get to see them that often. When we do have a chance to catch up with each other, it’s always play time for the grand kids. Like typical boys, they love to play any game or with anything that involves action. They especially like to play with building blocks. They love for me to build a tall tower of blocks only to have them knock it down as quickly as possible.
They anxiously wait for me to build another tower only to roll over in laughter as they smash it too the ground, over and over again. I try to build my tower with a strong, sturdy foundation but my weak structures of blocks are no match for two toddlers. What was so amazing was that the results of all the falling blocks didn’t seem to really matter to my grandsons because they had total confidence that I would simply rebuild another tower. While I focused on the falling structure; they focused on the next rising tower to be built.
There isn’t enough time for me to tell you all the times that life itself has knocked me down. Suffice it to say there have been many, many times. I can’t sit here and tell you that it hasn’t been frustrating and heart breaking at times because it certainly has been. I can’t sit here and tell you that there haven’t been times that I’ve wanted to give up, because there certainly have been. I can’t sit here and tell you that there haven’t been occasions when if only I had done one more small thing, the result would have been as I had wanted. In short, life has certainly thrown me some curves. At times, it just seemed like the taller I tried to build my life structures of blocks, the harder they fell.
Over time, I began to realize I was going through all my life’s trials the same way I had been playing blocks with my grandsons. I focused on the failures and not the future successes. I changed my outlook. I began to look at every so-called failure in my life as a learning opportunity. I would have quiet time with the Lord and simply ask, “Lord, I don’t understand why this particular event is happening now in my life. Help me to understand what I should learn from this.” I would keep an actual written journal of events as they happened and what the Lord taught me through each experience. Over time, my confidence increased and I actually became excited to find out what lesson the Lord would teach me next. The Lord’s Building Blocks for My Faith were there all the time—–I just had not seen them.
Where is your Walk of Faith today? Are you focusing on how hard your “blocks of life” are falling, or are you focusing on how the Lord is teaching you and making your stronger for future Walks of Faith. The difference is your focus and attitude. Only you, with God’s help, can change that focus.
