Fences and Bridges

This past month I started building a fence

I knew I was building something, i just didn't realize it was a fence

back to the fence in a minute

Maybe you've heard the story of the two brothers who lived next to each other with a adjoining property line

A tift arose, name calling began followed by insults

The first brother said, I will put an end to this and diverted a creek to create a stream between the property lines that could not be crossed

Of course, it was as much symbolic as it was physical

The message was, "don't come over here"

Time passed

One day a carpenter came to town looking for work and the second brother got this idea about hiring him to build a fence, to sort of "one up" him

He explained the project the the newly hired man

The carpenter said he understood and went off to work on the project as the second man left for work

When he returned later, to his shock, he saw the carpenter had used the materials to build a bridge, not a fence

More amazingly, the other brother was crossing the bridge thanking him for his willingness to begin restoring the relationship

they embraced

They asked the carpenter to stay and talk

He said he had many more bridges to build as he left

Guess you know who the carpenter is

Guess you know he likes bridges more than fences

He builds them

we still have to cross them, right?

I am tearing down my fence and using the materials to build a bridge

It's hard work

When I am done I will need to cross this bridge

Looking forward to the embrace on the other side