Our room under construction
While others were out in the craziness of black Friday I was pulling down wood paneling in my house. My children, my husband and I make a great crew. We want to make this room that was empty into a reading room with book shelves, a window seat and a cozy place to read books and snuggle together. Tearing it down is the easy part. The more difficult task is putting it back together again.
It’s so easy to tear down others and ourselves with destructive thoughts and actions. The difficult part is to repair the damage and build it back up again. So many of us use the destruction of drugs, alcohol, and addictions to hide from the truths of our lives that we need to face and repair. It is when we admit our shortcomings, failures or addictions that the real work begins. It is much easier being lost in a drug induced stupor than facing the hard reality of our lives. Once rock bottom has been reached and there is nowhere else to go many find a life line in a single thought: HOPE. That is when the denial ends and the reconstruction can commence. Repairing damage done to family and friends which will never be fixed but at least sincere apologies can be issued. The building is a slow and painful process but one that can happen if we give our lives over to a higher being (God). If we admit that we are not in total control and let God pull us through.
Our family room is a fun project not nearly so deep or life changing. We had fun tearing down the walls. We are having a great time imagining what the room will look like in the end. When we take the time to tear down the negative in our lives we can start to imagine the beauty and cleanliness of a new tomorrow. Whether it is a room, a relationship, an addiction or a life it is a process of tearing down and building up that gives us new hope in life.
