Break Down to Build Up

On my way to church this morning, I saw a construction project going on at a local high school. Specifically, they have removed the old bleachers around the football field and seem to be putting in new ones. However, at the moment, all they currently have are several holes in the ground where the old bleachers used to be.

Still, that's progress. Just looking at how it stands now, it seems like they've taken a huge step backward, having gone from old bleachers to no bleachers. But that's just one necessary step in the process, from old bleachers to no bleachers to new bleachers. Sometimes, you have to break something down in order to build something else up.

There are things in all our lives that we can stand do without, if only because they're getting in the way of us getting something better. For instance, I like my current job. I'd be worse off without it. Yet, if I could get a better job by quitting my current one, then quitting my current job would be a painful but necessary step in the process of getting a better job, just as breaking down the old bleachers was a messy, but necessary step toward putting in new ones.

We should try not to be too afraid of making such temporarily detrimental progress. The whole "two steps forward, one step back" routine sometimes requires us to take the "one step backward" first. We shouldn't be too afraid of breaking down whatever stands in the way of us building something better up. It's a painful, messy, and temporarily detrimental part of the process, but it is sometimes a necessary one. Sometimes, in order to build something up, you have to break something down first.