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| Eiffel Tower - Paris |
One of the things that I enjoy doing is travelling. I love to just set out every so often and take a trip to new places -places where I have never been before. And one of the things that I always look out for are the landmarks that are associated with these places. Of late, cities have taken up a trend of having certain buildings or erections that form an association with that city. For example, when you see the Eiffel Tower, you immediately know that you're in Paris; when you see the statue of Liberty, you know that you're in New York; and when you see the Khalifa Towers, you know that you're in Dubai. I live in Nairobi, Kenya, and one of the landmarks of the city is the Kenyatta International Conference Centre which stands out from the skyline of Nairobi city.
What makes all these great and beautiful landmarks stand tall? Well, there is something that holds these magnificent landmarks up, called a foundation. A foundation, in this case, is the base on which something stands. This is one part of a building that you will never, ever get to see, but one that is of utmost importance. Preparing a foundation involves what seems to be a useless and expensive effort…digging up the dirt from the place you want to build many feet deep until you get to the bedrock. Then after this, you begin filling it up again with various materials! Why not just build from the ground up?
Well, there is a story in the bible that talks about this too - the parable of the wise and foolish builders (Matt. 7:24-27). The foolish builder did not see the need for this tedious work of building his foundation on the right base. He probably thought that he was clever and could get away with it. Definitely his house cost way less than his friend and the extra money could have been used to decorate the house and get him good furnishings. Meanwhile, the other wise builder took time to locate the rock and build his house from there. This involved higher costs that his friend, a longer time and also took away from him extra money that could be used for his furnishings. When the true time of testing came, we all know which house survived!
These illustrations can also be mirrored in our lives. In your work, relationships, home, business, spiritual life, and so on, do you have the right foundations in place? We all want to put up our best front to the rest of the world and seem like all is well. But when the challenges come and your life is shaken (you can be sure these times will definitely come), will you remain standing, or will everything crumble into pieces? Take your time this year to put the right foundations in place in your life, where you can confidently build upon the successes of the years to come.
