Walls

Last week we were off on vacation. For the week off we went to Austin to work on our Son’s new house. He and his wife Cindy purchased a house and are expecting a baby girl in August. It is their first home and it is a nice house but it needed some work. The siding on the house is that kind made of pressed wood fibers. After a while that pressed board stuff just goes bad, so Deb, Alex and I spent some of the week replacing it with hardy siding. It may not sound like much of a vacation however I like working on things. I often find it relaxing to build or repair something. For me it leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment. I find it interesting that I like working on things. I think it is because it gives me a break from reading and thinking.
One thing that I have noticed it that it is easier to work on something than to work on relationships. It is easier with things because their reaction is limited. I think that is what makes it easy. When we enter into relationships there is a certain amount of control that we just do not have. You see with the bad siding, all we had to do was tear it off, nail up new, a little calk and some paint and better than new. The formula is easy. But with relationships, we never know how people will react to our efforts. There is risk in relationships. We become vulnerable if we truly open up. The effort to build new relationships, or to maintain, or even to repair relationships doesn’t always follow a simple formula, but Paul spoke of accomplishments vs. love. In the comparison he concluded without love “I am nothing”. He then spoke of love in simple terms. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps not record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Cor 13:4-7)
In none of these word do I see Paul say, love is controlling, love is manipulative, love is calculating, love needs to own. Love keeps a record of what is owed. So when I do works of kindness; I must remember to do them without strings. I must make sure the only wall I repair is the one on the house. For if I attach strings to the gift I may be building walls to our relationship.

Rev Patrick Evans