The tall wooden tower Papa and four-year-old Leila had been constructing suddenly came crashing down. Their masterpiece, now a pile of stick rubble. Leila’s eyes flew open in surprise, her expression filled with uncertainty as she watched for her Papa’s reaction. Was this a disaster or part of the fun? He laughed and convinced her they could rebuild it. Her concern turned to a smile as she and Papa began stacking the sticks again.

Something about this moment, watching the tower be built, seeing it fall, observing Leila’s response to the crash, but most especially, her pause as she waited for Papa’s reaction. It caused me to think of “towers” in life that sometimes, even after much planning and time, come crashing down. Marriages that end, relationships that go south, businesses that fail, and the endless list of investments of time and energy that don’t turn out as planned.

Life is full of tower crashing moments. They are often accompanied with feelings of disappointment, frustration, grief, anger, and other emotions that are important to process. Like Leila, we too can focus on the pile of rubble or look to our Papa. You know what our good Father has to say about it?

“I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise, lay your foundations with sapphires, construct your towers with rubies, your gates with jewels and your walls with precious stones. You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness, far from any trouble---nothing to fear. This is what God’s servants can expect. I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.” Isaiah 54:11 – 17 (MSG).

We all have disasters and failed attempts. That’s part of living, but when it comes time to rebuild, we often have a better perspective. We realize there are weaknesses that need to be reinforced, areas that need more thought, energy that needs to be invested where perhaps we didn’t the first time around. Our rebuilding gives us the opportunity to improve on what we already know. It will be better than what we built the first time. When we trust God to the outcomes, we can be assured that out of the rubble will rise solid, grounded results, filled with God’s best for us. He is a good and loving God.