The Wall You Built Has Cracks In It

I've done it myself. Maybe you have, too. In an effort to separate ourselves from life for whatever reason, we attempt to build walls.

These walls are made up of excuses, lies, and denial. Like the ostrich we think by burying our heads in the ground no one can see us.

Life starts closing in on us and instead of pushing back we begin to limit ourselves. The barrier may begin with a refusal to participate in something. A family party, a gathering of friends. We shut the door and lie to ourselves thinking no one cares.

"I won't be missed. They don't need me there."

Then it begins to show at work. We produce less, expect nothing and get nothing in return. We see it as life punishing us and why shouldn't it. We are simply not worthy of it. Or so the lie goes.

Layer by layer, piece by piece we dig deeper, build higher until we have completely removed ourselves.

Then while inside this invisible wall we have created we begin to blame others for shutting us out. The perceived darkness comes not from the lack of light, but the self induced blindness created by denial.

You begin to believe "There's no way out!" "There's no way in."

But you're wrong.

There isn't a fortress, there isn't a barrier, there isn't a negative thought, action or ideal that God can't break through.

Like a leaky basement, a house built of brick, or grave you have mentally dug for yourself, there is always a way.

It begins with a note from a friend. A knock on your door, a spoken word overheard that grabs your attention and pierces your heart.

An email from someone arriving right just as you think you have sealed off the world completely suddenly shakes the very foundation.

In the once stuffy confines you suddenly and dramatically feel a breath of fresh air. There's someone pounding on the walls relentlessly because they know you're in there and they won't stop until you come out.

Why? Because love penetrates all. It softens the hardest hearts. It soothes the most painful loss. It extinguishes the fires of loneliness and surrounds you like a blanket on a cold night.

Buried deep in doubt and depression it takes awhile for your eyes to adjust to the brightness and beauty of the day until the very moment when you look around and realize how very much you are needed and the world does indeed have a place for you in it.

If you shut yourself off. God will break through. He sent me to today just to say "I love you."

"I wish you enough!"
J
~ Bob Perks ~