~William Paul Young The Shack~
There was a promise which I made to myself a long tme ago. One which I had thought I had managed to keep through the years. That promise was that I would never...never...ever be like my father. For my own father was a tough son of a gun to those around him. He kept his own emotions to himself, he drank to forget, he was a adulterer. If that wasn't enough, my own father sacraficed his relationship with his own children. Having lived through this, I was assured that I was not like my dad. No, his youngest son would not follow that path which he had chosen for himself. For the longest time, I thought that I had pretty much succeeded in my goal. Well, in some ways I had while in others I had become something I detested. No, I had not dabbled in adultry or in the abuse of alchohol, but in some ways that apple had not fallen far from the tree. For where my own father had spent his life keeping his own emotions in check from those around him, in retrospect I have become what I didn't want to. We call it building walls, tall, strong structures behind which we ourselves can be safe in our own sanctuaries. All too often, those of us who live our lives behind these walls we've built up end up closing ourselves off from others. There is no room for interacton with those around us if these walls are to steep to overcome. Indeed, precious few are those who will even attempt to scale those walls we've built around us. The problem with living behind walls is that we rarely share in the lives of those around us. We're way too busy building and defending our own sanctuaries to take notice of what others may have to offer to enrich our own lives. These are the walls we choose to live behind.
9Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4: 9 - 12 NKJV
It was William Paul Young who described the walls which we build about ourselves as simply lies. I would tend to agree. It is a lie that we hide behind that fortress for we fear what others may think or feel towards us. Now, we ourselves may feel inadequate, unworthy or unloved, but we do a terrible disservice to those around us when we plaster our own thoughts and feelings upon our neighbors. I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be a mind reader, yet I have spent a lifetime building up walls to defend myself from what I THOUGHT others were feeling towards me. These are the lies upon which my own walls have been built. Now, add to this whatever walls those around me have built up for themselves and we now have many a fortress among us. It seems that far too many people somehow know what those around them are thinking and feeling. Far too many mind readers. Far too many walls. Whatever lies we may use to justify our own walls, they are usually built on a shaky foundation. My own father built up walls around himself because he didn't want people to get too close to who he was. In that I've been guilty myself. I sometimes thought that others would not want to associate with someone like me...and so I build up walls around me. When we do this, we cheat ourselves out of showing others who we truly are. When we build up walls we are not simply secluding ourselves from those who we think may hurt us. Rather, we are extinguishing the light which we are to the world around us. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 that we are to "let your light shine before men." Indeed, when we build up those walls, we are keeping others from seeing Christ Jesus who is in us {Galations 2:20}. When others see us, they indeed are seeing Jesus through us. When we allow others to see Christ in us, the walls we've taken so long building up are broken down.
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5: 13 - 16 NKJV
~Scott~
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