In 1980, when
Saskatchewan celebrated its 75 anniversary, people were encouraged to take on
some sort of commemorative project. For
some unknown reason, one of our neighbours decided to build a castle in his
front yard. In fact, this castle was not
“in” his front yard, it “was” his front yard.
Built out of little pieces of lumber, the castle had turrets,
battlements, a bridge and it stood over eight feet tall. Joe worked at his project for months and when
he was done he proudly slapped a “Celebrate Saskatchewan” sticker on it for all
to see.
The castle
remained standing as long as Joe was in the house. Eventually, however, age forced him to move
and the new owners came in and demolished everything. Last Friday, I walked past the property and,
had you not seen the castle, you would never know that it had existed.
About that
same time, my Grandpa took on a building project of his own. He decided that my brother and I needed a
place to play, so he built a shed in our backyard. This shed was sort of like a treehouse to us. It was a place to hang out and, in the
summer, we would even sleep out there. Recently,
my brother moved that building to his house where it is still standing and is
still being used more than thirty years after it was built.
These two
stories remind me that each of us is spending our life building something. The question is, “Are you building something
temporary or something that will endure?”
To put it another way, writer Rick Atchley says “Lasting joy cannot come
from things that don’t last. Don’t make
your life about stuff your kids are just going to haul to the dump someday”
“Each one should be careful how he
builds” (1 Corinthians 3:10). Those words
were given to the Corinthian church after Paul told them that their life’s work
would be tested at the end of time.
It is important to invest our lives
in things that last because what we do today can influence our eternity.
What are you building?
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