I was thinking about construction today.  Not Bob the Builder construction, or Tonka Truck construction…. but just regular old construction.

To construct is to build, assemble, create, design, devise, formulate.  You know how it goes… if I had a hammer…all over this laaaaaand.

But here’s the deal.  Down the road from us, there is quite a bit of construction going on.  I like to go there when everyone has gone home for the day.  When the jack hammers aren’t jacking, and the fork lifts aren’t forking.  There is something about being there… in the quiet.  I like to think about the progress they may have made that day… or what might happen here tomorrow.  But mostly, I like the stillness.  The hushing of the buzz.

And….  this particular project is a bridge.  It is an old iron bridge…. nearly out of commission.  Actually…. it was  in such bad shape that they had to close it.  The engineers deemed it unsafe and unfit for anyone to cross.  The bridge was broken.

Wouldn’t you know.  As the old saying goes… they didn’t burn the bridge down.  Instead, they decided to make it crossable again.  In this case, the old bridge is being repaired, and restored… as much as possible.  But undoubtedly there are parts of this structure which are far beyond repair.  They will have to be replaced completely.   The reinforcements of the bridge… the foundation… must be started from anew.

And then… it will be crossable once again.

It made me think about life… and relationships.  Some bridges we have with people in our lives remain strong and true.  While others begin to fail, and crumble, and break.  These unions are no longer safe for us to cross.  Road closed.

Best not to burn them completely, I think.  But there are parts that may need to be replaced, or reshaped, or started from the ground up.  And maybe the new bridge translates into a new crossing entirely.  Sometimes we find people who are better for our lives.

But always, hopefully…. to assist in continuing our journey.  Our forward progress.

Now….. the bridge over troubled water is a different matter….. entirely.

“It is easier to pull down than to build up”  –   Latin Proverb

“Whatever good things we build end up building us.”  –   Jim Rohn