Re-building Blocks

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In a talk he gave in April of this year, Dieter Uchtdorf  shared the following.  “Not far from where my family lived was the city of Dresden. Those who lived there witnessed perhaps a thousand times what I had seen [during WWII]. Massive firestorms, caused by thousands of tons of explosives, swept through Dresden, destroying more than 90 percent of the city and leaving little but rubble and ash in their wake.

“In a very short time, the city once nicknamed the “Jewel Box” was no more. Erich Kästner, a German author, wrote of the destruction, “In a thousand years was her beauty built, in one night was it utterly destroyed.”¹ During my childhood I could not imagine how the destruction of a war our own people had started could ever be overcome. The world around us appeared totally hopeless and without any future.

“Last year I had the opportunity to return to Dresden. Seventy years after the war, it is, once again, a “Jewel Box” of a city. The ruins have been cleared, and the city is restored and even improved.

“During my visit I saw the beautiful Lutheran church Frauenkirche, the Church of Our Lady. Originally built in the 1700s, it had been one of Dresden’s shining jewels, but the war reduced it to a pile of rubble. For many years it remained that way, until finally it was determined that the Frauenkirche would be rebuilt.

“Stones from the destroyed church had been stored and cataloged and, when possible, were used in the reconstruction. Today you can see these fire-blackened stones pockmarking the outer walls. These “scars” are not only a reminder of the war history of this building but also a monument to hope—a magnificent symbol of man’s ability to create new life from ashes.”

The phrase that stood out to me the most in this story is, “Stones from the destroyed church had been stored and cataloged.”  I find that stunning, mind-boggling, amazing, and inspiring.  Amid an ENTIRE city in ruins, lives and livelihoods destroyed, some one, or some ones, looking on the whole big mess, had the faith and foresight to sift through the rubble to find stones that could be used to rebuild.  Consider the patience and stick-to-it-iveness it took to go through the rubble! Then, they carefully cataloged and stored these stones, likely with no idea when or how they would rebuild.  

I think that one thing life is definitely fair about, is that we ALL face storms in life.  We ALL have, or will have, times when we are the ones standing amidst the rubble of a life that has been devastated.  When all that you love has lain wasted around you; when your hopes and dreams have been crushed; when you have been unable to imagine when or how things will become ok again; what are the stones/bricks/blocks that you have found amidst the dust and shambles that has allowed you “to create new life from ashes”?  Whether your firestorm took the form of illness, job loss, addiction, accidents, divorce, death, abuse, infertility, betrayal, failure, etc, what have you cataloged and stored and used to rebuild?

I am a woman of faith.  For me, faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ, and in my all-powerful Father in Heaven, is the cornerstone that has endured through all the destruction I’ve experienced.  I believe in their love and ability to strengthen me beyond my own capacities; in their ability to lift me from despair and despondency; and in the Atonement they have provided in my behalf.

Dieter Uchtdorf said this, “As I pondered the history of Dresden and marveled at the ingenuity and resolve of those who restored what had been so completely destroyed, I felt the sweet influence of the Holy Spirit. Surely, I thought, if man can take the ruins, rubble, and remains of a broken city and rebuild an awe-inspiring structure that rises toward the heavens, how much more capable is our Almighty Father to restore His children who have fallen, struggled, or become lost?”

For me, Family has also been a constant source of support and encouragement-- a stone that has endured, and on which I have always been able to rely.

Another stone that has endured and aided each time I’ve had to rebuild is work.  I understand that messes, no matter who created them, don’t clean themselves.  The stone of work allows me to focus on what I can do now.  Even if it is sifting through piles of dust, hoping to find more bricks with which to build.

The stone of humor has been invaluable for me.  I’m not entirely sure why, but it has endured all that I have been through, and helps me to endure and rebuild more cheerfully.

There are more stones that I have used and rely on, but I am truly interested in hearing from you.  What is your story?

In the throw-away culture of today, it seems like the logical thing would have been to call in the bulldozers and clear the disaster to build anew.  But, think of what would have been lost.  Think of the beauty and distinction that the scarred stones add.

In sifting through the dust and the wreckage of your firestorm, what stones have you found, cataloged and used to rebuild?