I realized a powerful principle in my life this morning. There is an old story about a man that comes across a man laying bricks. He asks the man what he is doing and he replies without looking up, "I am laying bricks". The man continues and sees a second man similarly working and asks him what he is doing, the man replies with a smile, "I am building a wall". Eventually the man comes across one last man and asks what he is doing. with a light in his eyes the man enthusiastically says, "I am building a temple for my God".
I go to school every day and have felt lately that I am just laying bricks. My vision and excitement for what I do each day has been almost non existent. To take this a bit further I was reading Nehemiah chapter 6 this morning, here is the setting as far as I understand it: Nehemiah is a governor over Judah and they have just returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile. Nehemiah wants to re-build the walls around Jerusalem and undertakes to do it. There are some of his enemies that entice him to come down and meet them in the plain of Ono and "they thought to do [him] mischief". He wisely replies "why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?"
I believe that the things I do each day are laying a foundation of a great work. Satan is incessant in his attempts to get me to cease the work that I should be doing. One way he does it is by trying to get me to believe that all I am doing is "laying bricks". Later Nehemiah's enemies resort to scare tactics and try to put doubt into his mind, telling him they cannot accomplish building the walls up again. He prays "O God, strengthen my hands." and when it was all done, in exactly 52 days, his enemies "perceived that this work was wrought of [their] God."
Life can be monotonous but the trick is to find joy in the journey. Remember that you are laying a foundation for eternity each day. You are building the Kingdom of God. Don't let Satan distract, doubt, discourage, or derail you from the work that you are doing each day. God will strengthen your hands, and others will see that the work you do is being wrought by God.
5 comments:
(this is your cousin kellee) This post was very helpful for me today. Thankyou
You know, Shaq has been laying bricks from the charity stripe his whole career and hasn't improved a bit. I wonder from your story if the first man could only see the beginning whilst the man at the end was closer to the end and could see improvement. Who hasn't wanted to see the end from the beginning? Keep up the good work David!
Hey you!
I really needed to read this post today. Your insight and prospective helped me a lot. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember the BIG picture and why I'm doing the small day to day things. You're the best!
I like the application to Nehemiah. I will have to get into that book this week to better understand what you are teaching.
I met with a group of Evangelicals on Thursday. They talked about how they believed that they get married because it is more like a metaphor to understand what Christ means when he talks about marrying the church. They believed that they would not have their marriage partner in the next life but that some how the love of God would compensate for that.
We are so lucky to have a correct blueprint of the building God wants us. We have increased faith that we can build the temple the way He intends it to be. An eternal temple.
You have an awesome Blog Dave, thanks for the thought!
And I think it is fascinating that you picked the same story about Nehemiah that was talked about so forcefully a month later in General Priesthood Meeting.
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