DON’T DESTROY WHAT YOU HAVE BUILT

There is an Akan proverb which when translated says: ‘To satisfy what seems like insatiable hunger, don’t burn your entire harvest”

The construction of a multistorey building occurs over many months. If not for the construction process itself, the time required for bonds to set, concrete to harden, relevant cabling and pipings to be laid all take time. Compare this to the scene of a building demolition with planned explosions? In a matter of minutes, what may have taken months or years to build, comes crushing down.

Using a standard three-month timeline, what took 2000 minutes to build, could be destroyed in one minute. We should therefore not be surprised when John sends a word of caution

"Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward (2 John 8).

It may amaze you the minimum amount of effort required to destroy things that have taken years to establish: businesses, relationships, legacies. One wrong deal, one missed connection, one inappropriate utterance is all it may take. Beloved, it doesn’t take much to destroy things, so take a moment to see if you really need to do or say what you seek to. Even a fireplace that has been burning for hours goes off when a bucket of water is poured over the wood.

Be on guard, so you do not destroy what you have built.

#sly