ReConstruct: How Falling Apart Leads to Upgrades
Has the roof fallen in? Or, is your life is being uncomfortably rearranged? Sometimes life presents us with a reconstruction process.
Construction is one thing. You were most likely involved in the building process of your life. You know what was dug out of the soil to lay the foundation. You watched it happen, and perhaps even directed the digging. You knew when the foundation was laid and watched each level as it was built. You chose or helped choose the materials. Your life was built by your own hands or at least under some degree of your own supervision.
But reconstruction is different. Reconstruction is usually necessary when the original structure is falling apart, when improvements or additions are needed, or when the current structure must be retrofitted to serve a different purpose. A new season has come.
When our lives have shifted and a new season has presented itself to us, are we willing to go through re-construction? Or, do we resist change and doggedly cling to the “known,” fearing or resenting this uncomfortable process that rearranges the familiar?
Reconstruction is messy.
First, reconstruction is very often out of our control. Forces have caused destruction or shifting needs. We must rebuild or upgrade to stay useful and relevant. These forces put us in a position of having to admit we weren’t really in charge in the first place. Yet, external forces revealing a need for reconstruction is actually evidence being presented to us that a new season has come. As difficult as it is to feel out-of-control, when we accept that we weren’t really in control all along, a life adjustment comes easier. Focus on the new season that is implicated in the shift, rather than staying stuck with the former.
Second, reconstruction can be exposing. When flaws or decay are discovered that must be addressed, it can be embarrassing and unsettling. It’s easier to cover up the problems or downplay their impact than to face them. Facing them means we have to confront areas of neglect or decline. However, only by replacing the brokenness can something new be established. When we’re brave enough to face the flaws and decay, and allow them to be exposed and restored, we will receive an upgrade!
Third, reconstruction is uprooting. Very few people welcome change precisely because it feels so unsettling. It’s challenging and awkward. Streets get closed down during reconstruction and re-routing must take place. When a house or building is going through a remodel, everything gets removed from the space, or at least shifted around (sometimes haphazardly), and daily living gets turned upside-down. This reality of reconstruction reveals what our peace depended upon. Aim to live a life where your internal order is not disturbed by external volatility and then reconstruction phases will be a lot less disturbing to you.
We live in a dynamic, breathing, pulsing world that is full of glory and purpose. Each of us has a beautiful destiny to fulfill here on earth. All too often, we get stuck in what we thought life was going to be or even what we thought we deserved.
Sometimes, we’ve become committed to a way of life or to something that isn’t working any more, and reconstruction is actually God’s way of offering us an upgrade! Reconstruction is part of the restoration process; it’s intended to improve, not harm us!
Please leave a comment below and share a time (perhaps now!) that your life has been in a reconstruction phase, and what the experience or outcome was like! Together we are “restoring order”!
Related:
- Sign up for our monthly inspirational [Restore] enewsletter
- Join the movement of Life Reclaimists by signing up for my free Life Reclaimist Jumpstart
- Visit our Life Reclaimist page for more resources
