Bridges

Now and then I find myself entertaining thoughts of my youth when life was simple.  The games I played with neighborhood friends and the kids at school were fun.  These activities kept our minds engaged and our bodies healthy with wholesome enjoyment.

Hide-and-Seek and Kick-the-Can were my all-time favorites.  Ring around the Rosie, Tag, and Dodge ball were also gratifying.  Oh yes, singing the Mother Goose rhyme, “London Bridge is Falling Down” was also fun.

My forth grade teacher, Mrs. Hughes, loved music and wanted it to be a part of her student’s curriculum.  She called it, “The hour of music.”

I remember singing “Low Bridge” also known as “The Erie Canal” song.  This old folk song was written by Thomas Allen in 1905 after the change of mule power to engine power.  The chorus goes like this:

Low bridge everybody down

Low bridge for we’re comin’ to a town

And you’ll always know your neighbor

You’ll always know your pal

If you’ve ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Another pastime game that people have enjoyed since the 1930’s is Bridge.  It has been one of the most popular card games in the world.  But the subject matter of this writing does not pertain to games that people play around the dining room table with friends or family members, or the games we played as children.  The following thoughts explore the value of bridges, which are structures carrying a road, path, or railroad that span across a river, ravine, or other obstacle.

As a case in point, let us look for a moment at the aura that radiates from a freedom loving person that lives their life treating others like they themselves want to be treated.  This bridge of goodwill toward people is contagious when seen by others.  I have learned by observing and through the natural course of hands-on-doing that this way of treating people goes a long way in keeping relationships on an even keel.

It is never a good idea to burn bridges behind you, as a matter of speaking, because a person never knows when they might need to backtrack to the other side with regards to acquaintances they have met.  

Maintaining one’s integrity, while safeguarding relationships, attribute to the peace-loving nature that accompanies kindness when striving to keep the return path free from obstacles that clutter and make passage impossible.

Personal values and respect for others, when maintained, prevent an encumbering buildup of restrictive sludge that could impede or cut off communication with those on the other side of the bridge.  All too often, individuals with rude personalities lack the wherewithal and foresight it takes to learn lessons when dealing with personalities that differ from theirs.

Hindsight is ignored, because these people do not seize the time it takes or the moments available to think about past, negative encounters that they have had, nor do they consider earlier periods with people when ill-behavior trumped better judgment on their part.  They disregard other people’s feelings; not caring how the conversation was received or the impact it may have had on those around.  They regard kindred relationships as a form of weakness. 

Sadly, they use people and then toss them aside like an old pair of socks when they are through with them, thus, burning another bridge.  Perhaps they have a self-sufficient, self-reliant attitude that spits in the face of common decency.  They have not learned how to safeguard bridges and respect the worth of them.  For the most part they are most miserable people, because true happiness comes when giving away from oneself, which they refuse to do.

I believe that a haughty, thankless spirit is a sure recipe for failure.  Everyone needs someone, because we are not an island unto ourselves, although some people think and act like they are.  Liberation comes when communication is free flowing.  We were made by our Creator to interact with one another; learning by the other person’s failures and successes rather than keeping people at arm length.

How a person handles stressful situations or the challenges they face say a lot about that person’s character, which ultimately can affect those around them in negative ways if they radiate a downbeat personality.  Like the aura around freedom loving people that influence in positive ways, unappreciative people affect others in non-constructive ways, because of their self-centered lifestyle.

A self-absorbed heart is like a house built on shifting sand; lacking a solid foundation having reinforcement steel and adequate piers that reach bedrock. 

Personalities like this try to span the ravine of life by implementing their own way of building bridges by depending on their own brain power.  They do things without first considering the means that it takes to have a successful journey to the other side. 

Though intelligent and intellectually astute when it comes to making money or when capitalizing on material gain, they lack good judgment and the skills to build sound structures that can span from one side to the other; bridges to true freedom over impassable chasms.

Several people helped me to succeed in life’s ventures through their words of encouragement, giving me business insight, and sharing their personal experiences of what not to do.  Their advice saved me from taking the wrong fork in the road many times.  Their savvy and good business sense that I gleaned certainly helped me to do well. 

Good council is priceless and always beneficial.  Each person that helped me made up the integral members of the bridge that spanned the distance over the abyss of troubled waters.  I am glad I took note and listened to their words of wisdom and guidance.  

I suppose it is the natural instinct and character of some people to think they can exercise their own plan of attack to achieve something worth while, whereas, the physical realm and rules of engagement to attain possessions pertaining to material gain and financial success fall short of the mark when spiritual insight is necessary for true happiness.  This involves a higher power than the intellect of modern man’s high-energy philosophy and misguided ingenuity.

If a person, within their own ability, were able to achieve spiritual utopia with supernatural insight to the complexities of the universe and the hereafter, there would be no reason to honor a Nativity scene at Christmas, or imprint the words “In God We Trust” on our currency and coinage, or attend church, or read the Bible.  They would be self-sufficient in their own right.

(John 4:24) “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Though many sects, false religions, and cults believe that there are other ways to span the gulf of sin, which separates sinful man from a Holy God, the Bible teaches that there is only one bridge that connects unrighteousness to righteousness.  His name is Jesus, the Son of God.

(Acts 4:12) “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The damming lie that Satan poses to mankind is that we, through good works, personal righteousness, going to church on Easter Sunday and Christmas, intellectual mumbo-jumbo through meditation, and the worship of idols, will make up the bridge to everlasting freedom for the soul of man. 

Those that are beguiled in believing this lie-from-hell will ultimately condemn themselves to an eternity away from the presence of Almighty God, because they rejected the only bridge not made my hands.

God can set at liberty any person that is bound by traditions, habits, and unproven religions if they so desire.  God gives each of us freewill to choose our way or His way.  Freedom comes through Jesus Christ.  He alone brings total forgiveness of unrighteous living.  It was the blood He shed on the cross that cleansed us from an unholy existence.  He died for the sins of humanity, because of love.

(John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The cross spans the gap, called SIN, which separates disobedient people from God.  Jesus hung there and was suspended with His hands nailed horizontally to unite a fallen people with their Creator—the bridge of forgiveness and grace.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  Not a soul can come to the Father except through His Son.  The cross is the only bridge connecting sinful man to the holiness of God.  When we embark upon this straight and narrow path, the only way to salvation, it insures that our homecoming will take place in heaven. 

When Christians pass from this life they will spend eternity in the presence of unending love.  While the angels are rejoicing, those that are born again Believers will be united with the true and living God. 

The bridge to freedom is sure, solid, and unshakeable.  When other means fail to provide lasting peace and the assurance that (all is OK with my Maker), remember that the blood of Jesus was the price paid for our redemption.  The bridge toll was paid in full for those that accept Him as Lord and Savior.

We do not have to worry about the flames of hell burning this bridge.  The fiery darts of Satan are extinguished by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God.

(Romans 10:9-10) “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  vs.10 “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Written by,

Papa Boyd