The Brick House (Part 2)

"The bricks have arrived for that house I'll be working on, William," said Dad. "I'm going over there now. Want to come along?" "Sure," said William, and soon they arrived at the building site. "Wow! That's a huge pile of bricks!" William exclaimed. "I guess that means you've got a whole lot of work to do, huh?"Dad laughed. "Yes, I do." He smiled at his son. "We talked the other day about building a life-house. Did you know that you have bricks to work with too? Bricks to build your life-house with?""I do? I know you don't mean bricks like the ones piled up here, so what do you mean?""All your thoughts, words, and actions are the bricks you're building with day by day," Dad explained. "You'll keep building with them as long as you live." He motioned toward the pile of bricks. "There are always some cracked or broken bricks among the good ones. When I come to those, I throw them out. I want this to be a beautiful, sturdy house when I'm finished. And when you find bricks that are poor choices for your life-house--unloving thoughts or words or deeds--you need to throw them out too and just use the ones that are fit for the house you're building. Remember, since you trust in Jesus, He's the foundation of your life-house. He will help you choose good bricks so others can see you're building your life on Him." "But what do I do with the broken bricks?" asked William. "How do I throw them out?""Whenever we think, say, or do things that don't fit who we are as God's children, we need to confess them to Jesus," said Dad. "He will forgive us and help us replace those broken bricks with good ones that reflect His love.""Good bricks like being kind and helping others?" asked William. "Right," Dad said as they started back toward the car. "And doing things that help us grow in our relationship with Jesus is also like laying sturdy bricks in our life-house--things like praying and getting to know Him better by reading the Bible.""I really do want to build a good life-house," William said. "So I'm going to trust Jesus to help me do it wisely." – Mary Rose Pearson