Build or Burn

 My friend Sara writes:

A few months ago my daughter told me, somewhat offhandedly, that her husband said that my husband and I had "fire-proof bridges". He meant in the context of our children and the many serious crises we have dealt with. That no matter what had happened we've tried to maintain a relationship. At first I laughed. It seemed like a clever remark and true! As I related the conversation to my husband, he reacted a little differently. He frowned a little and acknowledged it was clever, but that it didn't recognize the pain, effort, forgiveness, prayer, tears and sheer will, we put into our relationships with our children and other people. As we talked, I realized that we don't have fire-proof bridges, we just keep rebuilding. Sometimes several times a day. Trying to not give up and working to keep those bridges open. Each of us has the power to build, burn or rebuild bridges.

I agree. I find I have a choice, even from moment to moment, whether to act in a bridge-building or bridge-burning manner. This blog is helping remind me to choose the former rather than the latter in my daily interactions with others, especially my family. A marriage, a family, any relationship must be built, stick by stick, brick by brick. We either build or we don't, in everything we do.