The Wall Chronicles

So let’s talk walls. Have you really ever thought about how many different kinds of walls there are? No? Then it’s your lucky day! The next time you’re out having dinner with friends and someone starts talking about walls, as they usually do in dinner conversations, then you can share all of the vast knowledge you will be gaining from this post. Trust me. Nothing says “I’m an intelligent, well rounded person,” more so than talking about walls. In my next couple of posts I will be talking about walls.

So, what does a wall do? Well, it creates a boundary or a barrier. Walls keep things in but they also keep things out. They make us feel safe, or protected. Sometimes they do just that and sometimes that safety is an illusion. Sometimes we “hit walls.” Sometimes we’re thrown against walls. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to climb over it to the other side. Sometimes we smarten up, find a ladder, and climb over that wall to the other side. 

Walls serve a purpose sometimes. When our heart has taken too many beatings we will start building a wall around it. Someone said something unkind that hurt you. Hey, here’s a brick. Someone you love made a choice that brought you pain. Have some mortar to lay that brick with. You dared to let yourself dream that you could be happy and have the life you desire. Wait, hold steady while I hand you a few more bricks. You lost someone close to you and can’t go through that kind of pain again. And so the building of the wall begins. 

You might be feeling pretty good and maybe even somewhat smug at this point. No one’s breaking through that industrial sized barrier you just erected around yourself. No way. No how. You might even string some barbed wire across the top so that if anyone manages to climb as high as the wall then they end up torn and bleeding trying to get to the other side. Sure, you’re safe from hurt, but you have also walled yourself off, not only from the bad and hurtful things, but the good and joyful things as well.

I love this quote form C.S. Lewis. ~ To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and irredeemable.”

How many of you reading this have ever locked your heart away from circumstances or people? How many of you have forgotten where you threw the key? How many of your hearts are in a casket in the cemetery just waiting for them to be resurrected again? How many of you are scared to dare to even hope to let your heart out of its cold, dark hiding place and out into the light again? Granted, there are some people that are not “safe” for our well- being and that wall needs to be there to separate us from them, but that is different than losing our faith, hope, or courage. 

How many of you are beating against the walls of someone you love and care about? How many times have you bloodied your hands trying to tear down the bricks that they keep putting up as soon as you take one down? How often have you stood against the wall, your hand pressed against it, tears running down your cheeks, just waiting for the person on the other side to start knocking it down…….and wondering if they ever will.

Sometimes breaking down walls of those we love just takes time and patience. Breaking down our own walls requires time and patience as well.  This is why we must treat each other with care. This is why we must treat each other with respect.  This is why we must be slower to anger. This is why we must be quicker to give help and service.

Take a trip to Home Depot and get the tallest ladder you can find.  Put it against someone's wall and see if someone is just waiting to see if they're worth enough for someone to try to climb their wall.  Prop up the ladder against your own wall and see if you are brave enough to allow someone to climb over it.

I’m no expert on how to demolish a wall and I can’t take a wrecking ball to any of yours. I’m not familiar with your walls. The reasons some of you have your walls up would probably devastate and overwhelm me. I don’t’ judge or question why there are there. That is your life experience. I have my own challenges to deal with. I am however, an eternal optimist. I would rather drink a glass of lemonade than suck on a lemon any day. It’s sweeter. Life should be sweet. It doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but it can still be good.