Let’s Build Bridges, Not Towers

         “My way!”

          “No, mine!”

          “No way. My way!”

Sound familiar? How often have we heard our children argue with each other over the right way to play with a ball, dolls, or some other toy? The reality is, there isn’t a “right” way, just a “my” way. A “my way” isn’t built upon a desire to find understanding. A “my way” isn’t cemented patience or love. Rather, a “my way” is layered upon a base of pride.

Pride. The all-to-familiar stumbling block that is oh-so-common to all of us. The human default that loves to build a “my way” straight to a tower. These towers can appear impressive, amazing even, but the reality is that the more effort we put into building these towers, the more isolated we become. These towers of pride are built with bricks of an “I’m always right” attitude, thoughts like “I always know the best way,” or “I don’t need anyone else, I can do it all by myself.”

The reality is God didn’t make just one person for a reason. He made us to work together, in unity. Unity isn’t uniformity, which means not everyone is going to process the in the same way, come to the same conclusions, have the same ideas, or the same methods. Unity is coming together in spite of our differences, working together to understand one another, and achieving something better and greater than we could on our own. Unity means we build bridges, not towers.

Towers are tall, strong fortresses. They can seem formidable, impenetrable. And they certainly are impenetrable…and isolated, alone. And that’s exactly what pride does to us. It seems so tricky, doesn’t it? Pride makes us think that we’re doing something good for ourselves. Pride makes us think that we’re making the best choices for ourselves…and probably also for everyone else too. It appears that pride works really hard to build something strong and amazing. But the reality is, the longer we allow pride to work, our towers become taller and stronger, yes, but also more impenetrable. Eventually, we turn around to find ourselves completely alone at the top. We didn’t consider others. We didn’t value their opinions. We didn’t allow them into our hearts and minds. We weren’t vulnerable and completely honest. We didn’t listen, and we didn’t share. Why? Because we built a tower, not a bridge.

Bridges connect. Bridges are open, welcoming, and inviting. They invite us to learn, grow, and explore. They invite us to share and understand. Bridges span differences. A bridge can take two completely dissimilar terrains and find a way to join them while allowing the other side to remain unique and different. Bridges require patience, kindness, understanding, and humility. They require us to realize that sometimes we don’t have all the best answers and sometimes we’re wrong. They require us to celebrate what makes each of us unique instead of thinking everyone else has to be just like us.

God didn’t call us to be like each other, He called us to be like Him. And what is He like? He is patient, kind, isn’t jealous, forgiving, isn’t self-seeking, and full of hope. He is love, and through His display of love on the cross, He built the ultimate bridge. He crossed a gaping canyon and forged a way over impossible terrain differences to make a way for us to connect with Him. If we are willing to walk across His bridge, He is able to open our eyes to a love we’ve never seen to empower us to build better bridges than we could ever build on our own in our lives.

Thank You Lord, for Your amazing love and kindness toward us. Thank You for loving us enough on the cross to build a bridge to us. I pray that You would help me to see others the way You see them. Teach me and help me to build bridges, not towers, in my life. Amen.