Putting Up My Own Retaining Walls

After yesterday's experience with my son, I got to thinking about how that relates to upward spiraling (a recurring topic for this past year). Just like all of us, my children are experiencing erosion. The world drags them down. Their own inaction on some things is really not inaction at all, nothing in this world stands still.

I've been thinking about these words, "The natural man is an enemy to God," and I've thought about how what we should be doing here, what will cause an upward spiral in life, will be to fight against our own nature--to try to become more like God--to fight our own selfish desires and strive to help others.

I realized that my purpose as a mother is to help my children and direct them in what will decrease and even reverse the erosion in their lives. I need to help them learn to defy gravity and fly. I need to make sure that I provide EVERY opportunity that will put them in good places to learn and grow.

The example I set for them is one way to do this but another way is to help them set their own boundaries.

image: dmterrill.com

We have need of a retaining wall in our backyard. We've needed it for years, to be honest. With other priorities, this one need has been pushed to the wayside over and over again. So, as you can imagine, the hill of dirt, continues to succumb to gravity. There must be a wall that is well-braced, there to hold the dirt up to keep that hill from hurting our house.

So, the big question....When will I decide that that wall should be a higher priority? When will it reach the top of my list? When will enough be enough? Will I let it get to the point of damaging our home? In other words, when will I hit rock bottom? When I be ready to improve the current situation? Clearly, not yet.

image: kimberlyriggins.com

Since yesterday, I've been thinking about rules, boundaries, and priorities. I wonder, do I have limitations in my life that keep me safe? Are my children aware of my "code of conduct?" Do they see that I do the things I do because I want my life to be better today than it was yesterday, and do they see that I understand that I, in almost every way possible, control that outcome?

It seems that so many in our day don't have these rules. They kind of let nature or karma or fate or whatever you want to call it, control and direct their lives.

image: flickr.com

There was a woman who once owned a cat. That cat was all over the neighborhood. The first time we came in contact with the cat, it was up, nearly a mile's walk away, at the elementary school. Since the street the school is located on is fairly busy, I thought it might not be a great place for an animal to just roam free, so I lured it to follow us. As we went, I asked the people who passed if they knew where the cat lived. We were directed to the street right across from our own. I was surprised at how far she'd wandered.

When we walked the kitten to the door, the woman answered. She explained that whatever happened to the cat would be God's will and opened her door to let the cat in. She thanked us and expressed that because we'd brought the cat home, it must have been God's will. Hmm....Interesting. I had never looked at things that way before.

I believe that there are circumstances in our lives that happen and that there are things that are brought about because they are God's will for us, but if I were to approach life in that same manner, my personality being what it is, I think I would just sit back and wait for life to happen around me. How would I be motivated to do anything if all that happened to me was just God's will?

image: news.bbc.co.uk

Erosion is caused by sitting back and letting it happen. When I first brought the idea of an upward spiral to my husband, he told me about a classroom lesson he'd sat in on just the week prior to that and how they'd discussed the very topic--interesting timing, no? He said that they'd concluded that in order to reverse erosion, something had to be added to it. There had to be something new done to the land or added in to make it stop and improve the circumstances.

In other words, some kind of retaining wall or similar device needed to be added to hold back the erosion, but it was concluded that there was nothing in this world that could really halt erosion altogether.

image: drses.blogspot.com

So, as this year comes to a conclusion, that's what I've finally figured out....There is no way to stop erosion on our own. The downward spiral is inevitable, but each of us, at some point, need to decide where our rock bottom is. We need to, then, reach for something beyond this world. Once we do, the upward spiral can begin and will be as strong as our reach.

As a mother, my job is to help my children decide what their retaining walls will be until they can decide for themselves to reach upward, beyond this world--heavenward. My job is to teach them how, but I need to be doing it myself first.

So, have I decided that enough is enough? Have I hit rock bottom? As soon as I have, I can begin to build my limits so I don't end up at that same point of erosion again. Once my limits are built, it's time to reach heavenward. The upward spiral in my life will be just as strong as my reach toward heaven. That's what I've finally concluded.