Have you ever had a season when you felt like everything around you was crumbling?
I have.
That season was the most overwhelming time in my life. The funny thing is though, in the midst of the aftermath I realised that not everything had been taken away from me. What was left was my family, my faith and my closest friends. I found myself smiling, standing amongst this realisation, thinking I indeed was a very rich woman.
Just a few short months ago, my dear friends Aunty got the call that no one ever expects to get. She was called by her husband as he stood and watched their house burn to the ground. As my friend and her family searched through the wreckage of their home, they also had the most beautiful awakening moment. They realised although a million dollars worth of property and valuables had been lost, they still had these same things; Their family; everyone had survived the tragedy, they had their faith; which is now stronger than ever and they had the most beautiful sense of community as people gathered around them in their darkest moment.
At the end of the day, when all is lost, the only thing that remains is the foundation of what we have built our lives upon.
Would family, faith and friends be enough to sustain you if you lost everything?
What is of greatest value to you?
Your looks, personality, house, valuables?
What about your reputation, what others think of you or your online presence?
In the midst of tragedy or immense life change, none of these things will remain and when we build our lives around them, it is like building a mansion on top of shifting sands. The reason why builders require deep foundations of concrete, before any house is built, is because the weight of the life that is built can only withstand hardship and challenge, to the depth of its foundation. The higher the building, the deeper the foundations go.
If you thought of your life in terms of values, character or what is most important to you, how strong is your foundation?
If everything was taken away, what would you be left with?
A woman of wisdom builds her life around firm foundations. Values that are deeply ingrained in her character and life. Wherever she goes and whatever she does, she is congruent to the foundations that have been firmly dug in her life.
She values generosity.
She deeply appreciates and give precedence to her family.
She loves and pursues integrity.
These are the silent companions of wisdom that build strength in our lives.
Strength from a foundation that is firm, will always give us light and life to any path or season that comes our way.
Proverbs 4: 18
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Proverbs 11: 20
The Lord delights in those with integrity.
If you find yourself in a season where you feel as though you have lost everything, have a look around and see what your life was built upon.
The values that we build our lives upon are the things that will hold us and keep us in times of stretch and struggle.
These foundations are very different for a woman of wisdom, than what popular culture would tell us is important.
What is the very substance of your life?
Who and what do you live for?
What do you believe you were created to do on this earth?
These my friend are the very things that will be important when days of challenge come. When we build our life on silent values birthed from wisdom, no matter what tragedy may befall us, nothing can dig up the foundations of strength that remain.
To keep reading here is tomorrows post: She is patient in waiting
