What is Holding Us Up?

A bungalow near where I live has been covered in scaffolding for months while building work has taken place, with extensions to the side, back and into the roof space being added. The scaffolding has helped to shape and support the expansion of the building.

I’m amazed at how much scaffolding has been used for what was a small bungalow. It reaches way above the roof top. It’s there, of course, to support the building and as security for the site workers, allowing them to reach the upper levels safely.

I watched recently a television programme where a film crew went up through the scaffolding on Manchester City Hall, first by lift then via a series of ladders and through a forest of scaffolding poles to reach the area where repairs and refurbishment to the building’s clock were taking place as part of a massive restoration to the whole building. Looking at the huge jigsaw of steel poles and bolts, it became clear why it had taken many weeks to erect the scaffolding before any work could begin.

In other parts of the world timber or plant material such as bamboo may be used to support buildings under construction or repair but whatever is used, the scaffolding is generally something external.

In our lives we all need to have a supporting framework. Often that will be external. I’ve had two operations on one ankle, each involving months in a plaster cast. Though it was very restrictive, I had no choice, so I accepted that the plaster was there to support me, maintaining the shape of my realigned joint and nurturing my recovery.

Sometimes, when life feels a bit shaky or insecure, people are tempted to try all kinds of things to provide external support: addictive substances or habits, possessions or financial security for example. Whatever these may seem to provide in the short term, they reshape us in the wrong way and we’re likely to end up in a much more damaged state.

How much better it is to know that we have the love of God, the love and friendship of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit as internal scaffolding, supporting and shaping our lives. Although we may be more conscious of that truth at some times more than others, the ultimate spiritual support is always available, keeping us steady and, like scaffolding on a building, allowing for continual growth and development.

Even on days when I’m feeling my age and my joints feel rusty, slightly creaky and less flexible than I’d like them to be, I know that my internal scaffolding will give me unfailing strength.

Once the scaffolding is removed from a building project, the bolts and poles are piled onto a truck and driven away for use elsewhere. We get to keep ours! God’s love isn’t just constant. It’s moving endlessly, with us wherever we are and whatever we’re involved in, protecting the shape of us as we are but also outlining new spaces for us to develop into.

Like the builder’s truck, we need to keep moving on, carrying the news of that spiritual support to others, telling them what it means to us and how it can transform their lives, confident that in doing so, our own support will be strengthened.

Let’s reach to the rooftops and beyond!