I was born a builder and over the years I built myself a house made of bricks. It was solid. Substantial. Safe. Not something the big bad wolf was ever going to blow down!
Each and every brick had a name and a purpose.
There are bricks of schooling and education.
Bricks of pain.
Bricks of family.
Bricks of all manner of life experiences.
Bricks of beliefs.
Bricks of opinions.
Bricks of heritage and lineage.
Bricks of likes and dislikes.
Bricks of politics.
Bricks of religion.
Bricks of news and media.
Bricks of the opinions of others.
Bricks of religious rules.
Bricks of argument and taking sides.
Bricks of my identity.
But then it suddenly felt like my solid, substantial and safe House of Bricks was imprisoning me! It turned out my house was tiny and constrictive.
I began to feel like Archie Bunker – a curmudgeonly know-it-all!
I felt no happiness. No joy. No love. No youthful curiosity. No connection.
So now I am dismantling my formerly solid, substantial and safe House of Bricks.
Slowly. One brick at a time. I am removing the bricks that constrain me.
So now my house of bricks is not so solid anymore and it has a lot of holes in it. In some places all that remains is the thin veneer of some paint. And I love it!
Every now and then I peer through the holes in my walls and all I see is an infinite blue sky that feels like so much grace!
My new house has more natural light in it. It is becoming more spacious. There’s less stuff. Less clutter.
And my less substantial house full of holes has more visitors now! Who would have guessed that?
Guides. Angels. Saints and Sages drop in and hang out now.
Maybe a house full of “holes” is “holy”! LOL!
And there’s Love slipping though the walls now. Love drops by for a visit now and then.
It felt scary at first – dismantling all those walls that felt so safe and solid. The House of Bricks was all I knew. I had no way of knowing what lay beyond.
So I started slowly and it turned out that dismantling the house of bricks that I knew so well was not as scary as I thought it would be.
Sometimes I take out an old brick and replace it with a new one and sometimes I take out an old brick and am not too quick to replace it. I loved the bricks and now I am learning to love the spaces between all the bricks as well.
The House of Bricks continues to shrink. I’m happy with that.
© 2023 JOHN DAVID LATTA
