Laying Foundations with a Smile
Foundations are messy things. They are filled with stones, mud, sweat, and cement.
In the beginning of last year, the Hope House started construction on the new kitchen, school room, and laundry room. At first, it didn’t even look like construction. The work started with wire cages filled with rocks. Every day, the men who worked on construction built wire cages, lined them up, and filled them with stones. These stones were very heavy to lift and required patience as each wire cage had to be packed precisely to ensure that these rocks would hold the weight of the foundation without shifting. Even though the stones were heavy and required precision to ensure the cages were well filled, the men were steadfast in their work and worked with a smile.
Once the wire cages had been laid in place and filled with stones, the next step in building the foundation was leveling the land. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt was shoveled from the front of the Hope House to the back, filling in and leveling the land. Those working construction were always covered from head to toe in dirt during these days, but they worked with a smile.
After the land was filled in and leveled, holes were dug in preparation for pouring the cement columns in the foundation. These holes were deeper than the men’s heads and they needed ladders to climb in and out of the holes. To make matters worse, the daily Ecuadorian rain constantly drenched the construction zone and caused the men to leave the holes every day covered in mud- but again, they steadfastly worked with a smile.
Laying the foundation lasted five months- from March to July and the rest of the construction; laying the brick walls, pouring the support columns and second floor, has lasted the same amount of time. The foundation, buried in the ground and unseen, is the most important part. The foundation holds the building together. Without a foundation, the building will crack, shift, sink, and cause the building to collapse.
The work of building the Hope House’s foundation was difficult work, but these construction workers were building more than just the physical foundation of a building. They were laying the foundation for girls who watched every day as they showed up daily, with smiles, to do hard, messy, and unpleasant work. They showed Christ as they worked in the rain and beating sun. Their hard work, persistence, and integrity is buried deep in the foundation of all who saw them work.
In the same way, a child’s life requires a solid foundation. These precious girls and young women that we have been entrusted with have had many different types of foundations started in their lives. Some of their lives began on solid, level ground with families who love both them and Jesus. Others began their lives on uneven, muddy ground riddled with boulders and a lack of love. Our heart at the Ecuador Hope House is to lay a firm foundation for each of the girls in our care, no matter how unstable the ground of their beginning was. We desire to firm up their foundation with what Jesus, the firm foundation and cornerstone (1 Corinthians 3:10-11, Ephesians 2:19-22), says about their lives. Foundations are not laid quickly— they are laid deep, with patience, care, sweat, and persistence. For as long as each of our girls is in our care, we are firming up the foundation in her life, one day at a time.
In your life, what kind of foundation are you laying? Are you laying a deep, well prepared foundation? Are you intentionally firming up the foundation of those around you? Foundations take time to build and at first they might not seem like much. They are messy, require heavy lifting, and lots of hard work, but they are absolutely essential. Without a firm, level foundation, the building will collapse, but with a good foundation, the building is sure and secure.
As for us at the Ecuador Hope House, we are willing to stand in the rain, get messy, and do the hard work so that these girls have a firm foundation to succeed- and we will do it with a smile.
“As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” -Jesus
Luke 6:47-49 NIV
