Building a New Floor

As I was completing my third round of jogging in the neighborhood park, I suddenly stopped at the sight of a new house just across the park.

Something is different today., I said to myself, as somehow it caught my attention. It certainly had been under construction for some time now, and I remember seeing it on many previous morning jogs too. After pondering for a few minutes, I got the difference – the support beams were gone. The house was standing on its own.

If you are building a new floor, you will need support.

If you are building a new floor, you will need support.

Over the past few weeks, as I went passed this house, it was all messy with wooden logs or beams supporting each floor as it was built. There was mud, rocks and all kind of construction material outside the house, and inside there were only walls with red dirty bricks, and a few workers in dirt filled clothes going about their chores. Everybody walking on the street looked at everywhere but this house. Very frankly, it was not a pretty sight and people turned away from that side of the road while walking.

But today, the beams were gone and there was a layer of cement and white paint on the walls. The front entrance was getting cleaned, and much of the machinery and construction material was gone. Sunlight was coming in from the side and the new floor and walls were reflecting it illuminating the house, giving it a very different look from just a few days ago. And everyone walking on the road couldn’t continue without stopping and glancing at the new beautiful house, admiring it and wishing one for themselves.

Isn’t that the way of life and nature? Everything beautiful ever built was once messy and needed support. I guess the same holds true for great human beings and relationships. As we make different new floors on our life building, we will need the support of beams, we will look like a mess from the outside, and people will look the other way.

But once you finally complete the new floor, everybody will stop by and ask how you did that? Some will say you are lucky, and many will stop and admire you for creating your life the way it looks like. And they will wish they could do the same.

And they can. Everybody can. But then they have to take support of the beams. They would have to be OK with a little mess now and then. They would have to be OK with people seeing the other side when they most need support. Every dream has a price to be paid for. The only question is – are you willing to pay the price for your dream home, or your dream life?