Stretching with purpose across their own personal divide, a bridge offers up a fresh perspective from the other side. Bridges have always fascinated me. The taller and wider the bridge the bigger my questions become.
How was it built?
What massive hurdles had to be overcome?
and of course the classic “MOM” question – Was anyone hurt in the process?
My husband Todd and I are regular travelers through Colorado. It’s a state that offers a magnitude of bridges for us to marvel over. One of my favorites is the narrow plank footbridge that is suspended by cables over a great gorge on Engineer’s Pass. The road is a four wheel drive stretch of cliff side rocks and dirt that is not for the faint of heart. This particular bridge calls out with a challenge daring one to cross it and investigate the legendary mountain cabin of Henry David Thoreau. Oh the stories he must have written looking out from his side of the bridge!
Then there’s the bridges that we encounter as we backpack our way through the Rocky Mountains. Creeks swollen with the rushing waters of spring-thawed-snow would be completely impassable if it weren’t for the fallen trees that strategically bridge the gaps. Better yet are the “thankful bridges” made with human hands placing large flat stones across slow summer streams keeping our socks dry as we step through.
For all the masterful bridges in Colorado, I tend to dream most about the ones not built. The expansive canyons and gorges where we’ll never know what it looks like from the other side. The deep ravines where no one has yet to create a vision for a bridge, let alone set about the hard work of building one. The gaps that will forever stay gaps – until someone’s dreams are larger than their doubts.
Like the mountains, I have my own seemingly uncrossable life-gaps and valleys. I’d like to say that I have had the courage to always be a bridge builder but that’s not the case. There are places in my life that I choose to stay stuck at the bottom. Knowing full well the effort it would take to build the bridge, to strategically place the fallen tree or lay the stones across the stream – I have opted instead to turn away. Thus resigning myself to never see the view from the other side. It makes me sad just writing the words.
Building bridges across our life-gaps requires a deep intentionality. An intentionality that requires us to make a choice. Why don’t we summon the courage to take the risk? Why don’t we put on our “engineer hats” and take those first brave steps across the great divide?
In John Maxwell’s classic book, “15 Invaluable Laws of Growth”, the starting block for growth is the Law of Intentionality. He describes 8 Growth Gaps that hinder us from being intentional in our lives and thus missing the view from the other side. Admittedly, each one of the Growth Gaps is an excuse I’ve given at one time or another in my life. What would happen if I had a Bridge Builder Mindset and closed those gaps instead? Where might I be standing today? It certainly would not be at the bottom of the gorge.
Take a look at the fresh perspective from the other side …
Ouch! I can see first hand how the weight of my own growth-gap-mindset has served to pin me to the bottom of a self inflicted drainage ditch. A simple shift in mindset can transform my gap-creating “I can’t” into a bridge-building “How can I?”
What if TODAY we both took a careful look at the valleys we have languished in for too long? Maybe that means repairing a broken relationship by building a bridge and seeing the view from the other person’s side. Perhaps it’s creating a way to “cross over” some rough waters and keep making forward progress on your life’s journey. Imagine intentionally engaging in a bridge building mindset as we approach the gaps and gullies in our lives. I guarantee you the view looking back at us from the top will be worth the climb it took to get there!
