It takes a lifetime to build, and a day to destroy
Thursday August 27th 2009
by Paul Armstrong
Families are built through generations and generations, but a family can be destroyed in a single day. By a single act, that turns into an avalanche and buries everyone. The truth is not always what you see or hear or get, but somewhere hidden between, and when broken people hide themselves from their own truth those cracks find a way out.
There we are, in our tiny boxes on a hilliside, putting ourselves into other little boxes. Segmenting our lives. Boxes. Dividers. Shields. Protection. We take what we know of the world, our pasts, our pain, and turn it into the truth. The truth of love. The truth of family. The truth of God. And if we're broken enough, we put that truth into a dark place and hide it.
I feel it would be unfair to reveal too much of what is happening, but equally unfair to hide (from so many people that are praying and concerned) the heart of the matter. Afterall we don't live our lives in isolation. There is a mountain of hurt and pain and secrets that have been revealed that can be devastating to a family. Truly no family is perfect, and the degrees to which are as extreme and night and day. The cracks have spread. It goes beyond the sad clichés of marriage issues into the realm of unbelievable. I wish I was ignorant of it all — pass me the blue pill, I'll happily take it (that's a Matrix reference, not a Viagra reference, so shut it). But it's out there, the truth in all its gory, harsh, disheartening, shameful detail, and it can either destroy us or bring about change and healing. Ultimately its about the truth and hiding. There are truths about our beliefs privately and truths about our beliefs publically. There are truths about what we believe about ourselves privately, and what we portray to others publically. The further those truths are from each other, the greater the tension, until it pulls so strongly that it opens a chasm. A tug-of-war between what is real and what is perceived. Eventually everyone falls in.
Please keep praying for our family. We need truth. We need wisdom. We need redemption and healing. Pray that this will not destroy us, and that hope for change will works its way through. Pray for support and accountability. Pray for the pain to not swallow us whole. 37 years of trust have been shattered, and it will take a long time for that to mend, but I have to believe that there is hope, that God can change anything, because only He can pull us up.
Comments for "It takes a lifetime to build, and a day to destroy"
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I'm praying for you guys. My family went through a rocking by revelation a few years back and it took us a long time to come through it but come through it we did.
by Bethany Linn
∞ Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Dear Paul, I'm so sad for everyone involved and affected by this situation. I can't truly imagine what you're going through, but I do imagine that this is the hardest time to see hope. The revelation was just the beginning of the hurt, and you all have a lot to go through before healing can begin. You're more than raw, you're still in the process of being injured. But when the hurting stops and healing begins, I believe that you will find that everything hasn't been destroyed. At least that's my hope for you and for each person in your family. Of course, there's nothing I can say to really help you. But I do love you all. Most importantly, I'm just praying and praying for honesty, resolution, healing, forgiveness, peace
by Mike
∞ Thursday, August 27th, 2009
You know you guys are always in our prayers and you know I'm always here when you need someone to talk to. Hang in there pal.
by Luke
∞ Thursday, August 27th, 2009