Bridges and Shade Trees

Bridges and Shade Trees

It would appear the end of an era has come for our family.  For the past week, we have been cleaning out a lifetime of possessions in the old house that held them.  Those possessions seemed to breathe out a lifetime of memories; meals prepared, holidays celebrated, children and grandchildren raised and loved. The two people who grew a family within those walls were above all else committed to each other, over the 61 years they were married, until my Father-In-Law passed away in 2020.  Now, after experiencing a terrible fall and several broken bones, the time has come for my Mother-In-Law to be in a place she can get the assistance she needs. 

One constant that stands out in my mind is my Father-In-Law’s love for Christmas: the decorating, the gift giving, and the food!  He took special pride in decorating the outside of the house, expertly hanging wreaths on every window with a velvet ribbon coming down from the top, and meticulously stringing garland across the wooden fence (as early in the season as he could get away with)!  As we were in the basement, sorting through some of those prized Christmas things on a table, at the bottom of one of the stacks, laying flat on the table, was a copy of the old poem, “The Bridge Builder.” Being vaguely familiar with this poem, I stopped my sorting and read it with fresh eyes. 

The Bridge Builder

By: Miss Will Allen Dromgoole

An old man, going a lone highway,

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,

Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim-

That sullen stream had no fears for him;

But he turned, when he reached the other dside,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting strength in building here.

Your journey will end with the ending day;

You never again must pass this way.

You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head.

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followeth after me today

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”

By the time I took in the meaning of the last line, my eyes were already flooded with tears. It was as if that sheet was put there for such a time as this.  That is what they did for their family, I thought, they built a bridge.  With tradition, stability, and love, they built a life on which those coming behind could build as well. 

And isn’t that what we should all strive to do – build our lives so that those coming behind can see the way, can know a sure and strong foundation?  So, when challenge and heartbreak come, “the chasm deep and wide,” that is a part of every life, we have a way to “cross in the twilight dim.”

Of course, this principle applies not only to our own personal lives, but also to the Body of Christ, the Church.   We do our “building” not only for ourselves and the needs of the current moment, but for those who will come after us.  It is often said that we are “planting shade trees that we will never sit under.” We plant so that others might enjoy the cool shade one day.  We build and plant and work so that others may know the peace, the joy, the salvation that is found in Jesus, our Chief Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).  With the strong foundation of His Word, and complete trust in His sovereignty, let us build our bridges well. 

“Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” (Psalm 102:18)