Overcoming Busy

Stability

July 21, 2010 by Marci

Last night, I went for a walk. I was about 5 minutes into it and my foot started to ache. A bit further up the road my foot really started to hurt. I tried to just walk it out, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I don’t usually have any aches and pains – especially in my foot! Should I turn around and go back? Should I keep walking my usual route? As I stood there trying to decide, I noticed my shoelaces were loose. I bent down and tied them and decided to keep walking and tough it out. As I took off walking, I realized that the ache in my foot was gone. All I had done was tighten my shoelaces. All my foot needed was a little stability.

A Good Foundation

My husband is a home builder. Before he picks out the cabinets or the lighting and before he even starts to frame up the walls and floors, great care is taken to create a good foundation. The soil is tested to see if it can support a house. Ground work is done. The correct type of rock and cement are laid down. Even though no one will see it, a lot of work goes into the foundation. It has to be unshakable or the house will be unstable. It will not stand against weather and time.

How Strong Your Foundation?

I have heard people say that their mom or their best friend or their husband was their “rock” or their “foundation”. While I am happy that they have such a good support in their life, I have to question if people really make the best foundation. What happen when those people don’t agree with you? What if they don’t have the same views and values that you have? What if they die? When those things happen, there goes your foundation. What do you do then?

Other people build their lives on the foundation of education, status, family, name. These might not be bad things, but are they rock solid? Are they unshakable?

The Wise Man vs. The Foolish Man

As I finished my walk last night, I was amazed what a difference stability made in my foot. It totally took away my pain. The stress on my foot was gone. I was able to finish my walk. On my way home, I walked past one of my husband’s building sites where they had just poured the foundation that afternoon. The song that goes with the Bible story that we all learned in Sunday School kept going through my head. “The wise man builds his house upon the rock…” If you remember the story, the wise man built his house on a good, strong foundation and it stood firm. No matter what storms came, the house did not crumble. On the other hand, the foolish man built his house on unstable ground and when the storms clouds gathered his house fell flat.

Our lives need to be built on something strong, immovable, unshakable. Something greater than people or institutions. How else will we weather life’s storms? How else can we discern truth? It’s hard to figure out right from wrong when what you’ve based your life on keeps changing.

God’s word never changes. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He loves you and cares for you. He created you. He is the solid rock you can build your life on. He will give you stability in your everyday life. Life is better when you know you can trust what you have built it on. I encourage you that if you are building your life on something less than the Lord of all creation, that you examine your foundation.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24