What Are You Building Your Life Upon?

When you build a house, you build it on a firm foundation to make it last through the storms and years of life.  When you build your life, you also need a firm foundation.  It is the core and basis of your life, the heart and reason that gives meaning and defines your life.   You need a solid foundation where you build your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.  If it is not solid, then worry and anxiety will seep inside, and negative thoughts will put cracks in your foundation.  Then, instead of building a life, you focus on the cracks.

Your life has some basic foundation stones.  They have many different names but are basically the same principles.  These stones are faith, trust, relationships, values, morals, principles, ethics, and change.  When you view all decisions and situations through the lens of these stones, then you create a structure on your foundation.  You build on these stones throughout your life.  Be intentional in your choices because whatever you choose affects your outlook and attitude and can either make your foundation stronger or put cracks in it.

The first stone is faith.  What do you believe in?  Faith is believing in someone greater than oneself even without complete proof or understanding.  It is a confidence in what you cannot see but know is true.  For me, my foundation stone of faith is anchored in God and salvation through Jesus Christ.  The second stone is trust which connects to the stone of faith.  Who or what do you trust?  Trust is a reliance and belief.  Trust is the core of all relationships.  It is believing in the reliability, honesty, integrity and strength of someone.  Faith and trust go hand in hand with God and in your relationships.

Everything in life comes down to relationships.  Your relationship with God and your relationship with other people.  It is your choice whether you believe in God or a Higher power – someone who created the world and is greater than you.  That choice of belief affects your foundation and all other relationships.  How you view yourself is also part of your foundation.  Do you have a positive regard for yourself?  It is loving yourself.  This is a respect for how you care for yourself, what you put in your body, mind, and spirit.  It involves your outlook on life and your focus.

Another stone for your foundation is your values, morals, principles, ethics.  This is the glue that holds everything together in your life.  These determine your standards of behavior and what is important in life.  It is how you act and what you regard as acceptable and not acceptable.  It is how you determine what is right or wrong.  It is your code of conduct.

The stone of change is usually not regarded as a foundation stone of life.  If you recognize and accept that life is always changing, you will be prepared to face the uncertainties of life and continue to grow.  You will not get stuck in fear and worry but accept the changes of life as natural.  Change is inevitable.  Change also represents growth and building upon your foundation.  In each chapter of life, you change.  When you build on these foundation stones, you find meaning and purpose to your life and define who you are.

Elaine J. Sturtz

Living In The Different