The problem is usually in the connections

When a building collapses, very often the fault is not in the beams, but in how the beams are connected to their supports.

In architecture school they teach you how to "size a beam": How much weight can this 2x10 hold? It depends on how long it is spanning, how close it is spaced to the next 2x10, and also what kind of wood it is. They teach you all of that.

But the real problem is at the connections. You can have all your calculations right about the beam itself. But if you attach it to the wall with just superglue, well, say "hi" to Saint Peter for me.

And when you're dealing not with simple wood frames, but with steel and concrete: with skyscrapers and bridges, the stakes become very, very high.

In life, we all "size up" people. What is this guy made of? What kinds of loads can he take? Can he withstand "dynamic" forces?

These are all good and necessary questions.

But we rarely consider the connections. How is this individual linked to others? What are others doing to support him? Does he have the resources to carry the loads he is expected to carry?

In life, when you take into account the connections, that accounting includes not just the person you are sizing up; it also includes YOU as part of that person's connective network.

This immediately calls for calculations of a more sobering kind. It calls for self-reflection and repentance.

This works in all sorts of life relationships: friendships, marriages, the raising of children, business ventures, church life, expectations for subordinates.

I know of an organization that used to excel at giving its employees titles. When someone was unhappy, they just gave that person a new title. But the organization never really did the hard work of providing the connective tissue to make anything really work.

Giving titles is like calling a beam by another name.

But how do you frame it? What do you frame it in? What connective tissues are there? How can you contribute to that connective network? That's the concern.

Logos2Go

Ephesians 2.19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Hebrews 10.24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.