Tuesday, December 12, 2006

 

Home is where the house is.

Our lives are like houses. What am I getting at? Well houses constantly fall apart. There will always be something that just needs to be a bit better. The same is true of lives. None of us is perfect. There are areas where all of us could be better than we are.

When we have the money and time, we hire a bathroom guy, to fix up that ratty old bathroom, or a painter to repaint those walls, or a builder for that extension. Sometimes if were feeling particularly game, we do more than one of these at a time.

When we have the energy and motivation and time, we try and fix up our lives. Work really hard at changing that niggling bad habit. Try and improve the way we treat others, even those we don't like. Go and see a shrink about our long running depression.

On top of this planned maintenance, there will be disasters. The hot water system exploding, flooding the house. A small grease fire in the kitchen, a major leak in the roof, or a smashed window.

Likewise in our lives we will have minor and major disasters. The death of a loved one. The loss of a job. An argument with a friend.

But through all this there is one thing that is constant. We are never going to be completely happy with our house. There will always be that one thing that needs to be better. Nevertheless we still try our best to fix the things that are wrong. We will never attain the goals. That does not mean we shouldn't try, since the alternative is a house that continually gets more and more run down. And eventually becomes uninhabitable.

A place where no one can live.

On the flip side, it is important to realise that no matter how badly a house has been damaged, whether by earthquake, flood, fire, or a combination of many small things, the house CAN be rebuilt. It will take time, effort and energy, you may need to go right back to the foundations, but any house can be rebuilt.

Don't be Tim “the tool man” Taylor when it comes to your life. It's more important than that.

Comments:
that was a really great post. thank you.
 
And now take that somewhat long winded and largely cliched analogy and replace "life" with "relationships" or more specifically, "friendships"..

It will take time, effort and energy, you may need to go right back to the foundations, but any house can be rebuilt.

It's not entirely true, in some cases the damage to the ground in the vicinity of the house can be so severe that no structure can ever be built there again.

However if you believe what you are saying here, that any house can be rebuilt, why is it, when an old friend reaches out and says, "this house has fallen into a terrible state of disrepair, but I want to rebuild it", do you turn around and say, "No. It's too late." ?
 
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