Can’t we all just get along?
short answer: Thankfully, no.
longer answer: Okay, think for a minute about the building of Solomon’s temple back in about 1,000 BC. From what I understand it was magnificent. Materials from all over the known world were used, gold, stone, wood, fabric. It all came together to form the temple. I’m particularly interested in the large stone boulders, or slabs, because of the weight and the amount of work it must have taken to get them in place. Weight and bulk were basic characteristics of those stones.
I’m sure there was a builder or two that would have liked it if those stones were not so heavy. Why didn’t God make those stones lighter? I mean, this was a temple being built for Him. If it’s possible for stones to cry out in praise, I can conceive of stones that can make themselves lighter. Couldn’t the stones just get along with the builders instead of fighting against them? For that matter, couldn’t the builders just get along with the stones instead of incessantly pulling and dragging them? Surely one of these groups, either the stones, or the builders, were doing something wrong to cause such a conflict!
Can’t they just get along?
In order for them to get along, one of the groups would have to give up some characteristic of themselves that ends up being very important. Builders move things and put them in place. If they don’t nothing gets built. Bringing them to the temple was the right thing to do. Stones are heavy, bulky, and strong. If they are not, the temple collapses in a high wind. Being heavy was the right thing to do. They each have a characteristic that is valuable and yet those very characteristics create a challenge, conflict, problems. We don’t really want the stone to stop being heavy, just to please the builders, and we don’t really want the builders to abandon their plans, just to please the stones.
It seems to me that conflict is the way that new things are made and not because one side gives in, but because each one does not. In an argument, it’s okay that you are not easily persuaded, that you dig your heels in. That strength and conviction or even stubbornness may be the characteristic needed to build something new. It’s okay that you keep pushing and pulling on me verbally, because it would be good for me to be somewhere else, but not if I get there by trying to become weightless. Maybe it’s okay that we each work hard to do the right thing, even against each other at times, instead of just getting along.
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What a great way of explaining this. I mean…….REALLY great!
Several decades ago there was a Readers Digest story called, “I Secretly Hated My Mop”. I’ve seen versions of it since. It correlates well with this. The woman in the story, after many years of marriage, suddenly realizes that she hates using the sponge mop her husband insisted that she use. His intentions were good, but she hated it. However, she didn’t give it further thought, but went on using a sponge mop for years. I remember thinking that I can be like her, and that sometimes I need to stick up for myself. … Thanks!
Loved this one.
It really helped me to understand that it’s ok to be different. (how boring if we were all the same)
It’s ok to stand your ground (maybe it’s a teaching moment for someone else)
It’s ok to be stubborn (it’s not selfish)
As always (from reading your articles), I learned alot, thank you so much!