Concrete & Sand... [1]

Some rather common wisdom concerning goals and achieving them is that you set your goal in concrete and make your plans in sand. Behind this thinking is the reality of life. Situations will arise, so how you plan to accomplish a given goal may have to change. It is obviously easier to change something in the sand than it is to change something etched in concrete. Furthermore, a goal made in concrete connotes a sense of permanence and stability.

Yet when it comes to following God, I am inviting you to consider with me the value of placing this life goal in the sand and leaving concrete out of the picture all together. Why would you even suggest this? Just read along please. Haven’t you ever read about the foolish and wise builders Jesus talked about? Which ones, those in Matthew 7 or those in Luke 14?  

Have you ever made (or seen) handprints in concrete? Examples with which I am familiar are agrarian (perhaps because not many children want to ‘immortalize’ their handprint with a name in the city limits). When the pad was poured for whatever (floor of a shop, approach to building, a sidewalk, etc.), a place was reserved for handprints in the concrete accompanied with initials (sometimes full names) and a date. It is kind of cool really. Yet, how often are those memorials (which is what they seem to be) forgotten? Oh to be sure, a person can revisit a site from their childhood and “remember when” if you will. Yet how often do the events of “remember when” come back to their mind without revisiting the site?   

Let the reader understand, this is an analogy. Analogies do not prove truth, they illustrate truth. Furthermore, all analogies will eventually break down at some point. So, let this be what it is – an analogy.

There are many who have “made a goal in concrete,” if you will, and have not revisited that goal in any substantial way for years. The intention is good: “I will be faithful to you as my wife/husband” or “I will follow God whole-heartedly” or “I am convicted, I will no longer ______”. A concrete resolve is made, with good intentions, but over time it is ignored. Granted, something might spur the person to “remember when,” but what follows the trip down memory lane is not set in concrete. Indeed, the trip can go a few ways. For some, it will embolden the person and they will recommit to their initial goal in concrete. After all, they meant what they said. For others, it will lead to the person being disheartened and defeated as they think, “Wow, a lot of good that commitment did me…just like a lot of other things in my life – F.A.I.L.U.R.E. – I may as well give up.” Yet they meant what they said as well... 

The above is not only unfortunate. It is also tragic. Worse yet, it is also reality day after day after day. What is the divorce rate in our culture? [And no, I am not saying a lack of commitment is behind all divorces – there are many factors] How many people have initially decided to follow God only to, at the least, wane in that commitment if not fall away? How many have been convicted that “this is the last time” only to return to it, or have it return – with a vengeance?

What if the goal was made in sand?  I realize I involved some other goals above, but I will now return to the life goal of following God – you can make the application for other life goals easy enough. Yet...Made in sand? What, like something that takes hardly any effort? Like something that can be easily washed away or eroded? To those inquiries I answer “No” and “Yes.” We will explore why next time…