BUILDING TOWERS OF LIFE
Life is a series of small choices. Every day we make hundreds of decisions about little things that determine what we will or will not do. These choices include what we will eat, the clothes we wear, which route will take to our jobs, how we’ll interact with others, and our response to the hundreds of other opportunities we will have to choose one option over another. None of these choices are very big, but they are the fabric of everyday life.
On the other hand, life’s “BIG” decisions don’t come up very often in our lives — things like who we’re going to marry, whether we’ll buy a car or a house, making a job or career change, or how we’ll respond to God’s leading. Big decisions are moments that require concentrated attention to detail, viewing the situation from every angle, and using all the collective wisdom we can find. If we get one of those wrong, our life takes a turn for the worse!
Yet, if you think about it, it’s the small choices that we make every day that become the “building blocks” of every big decision! Our small choices stack up on one another to create who we are, how we act, and what people think about us! The “big” decisions are usually just a compilation of all the small choices we’ve made prior to that time.
A number of years ago one of my granddaughters, Gabby, gave me a visual demonstration of that principle. Like most 2 year olds, she loved “Duplos”, the larger size of Lego Building Blocks. She often took to the task of building “towers”. She carefully piced out which blocks go where, what colors she wanted to use, and how tall the tower would be. One at a time the blocks were added. Each block was chosen with care and placed right where she wanted it. With very little help from Gramma one day she constructed the tower in this picture. As you can see, the tower was taller than she was. With the tower on the floor, Gramma let Gabby stand on the fireplace hearth so she could keep building! The end result was pretty impressive ….both in design and height!
“Small choices are the building blocks of big decisions”. As I looked at that tower again this morning when writing this article I was struck by how this tower illustrates that principle. Our “everyday” choices on little things makes us who we are. Eat too many fast food hamburgers and milkshakes over any period of time and you’re going to have to make a “big decision” that you need to start working out again and lose 50 lbs…..which is what I need to do right now! Ugh!! Spending too much money on your credit cards little bits at a time add up to a big debt that will require you to change your lifestyle. Putting off that routine maintenance will usually lead to a major breakdown….and a much bigger expense. Making minor compromises on your values will lead you down a slippery slope into sin and into a bigger, but loving, confrontation with your God. Small decisions build “towers”, whether those are good towers or bad towers….sometimes it’s amazing how big those towers can get!
Next time you’re headed to Taco Bell, or pulling out that credit card, or facing down one of life’s many other temptations, think about Gabby and her Duplo’s. Then ask yourself, “What kind of tower am I building?” Perhaps that thought alone may be enough to make you re-think that “small choice” because you’ve made a “bigger decision”….or you’d like to avoid having to make bigger, tougher one later!
To All My Fellow Tower-Builders
Larry
Heartstorm 