Ladders or Stairs??

Ladder or Stairs??

I’m somewhere in the latter half (I hope…) of my recovery from “The Fall” I wrote about in January’s edition of this blog. I’ve continued to write regularly, adding to those “Lessons.” I’m in school and the lessons keep a comin’…

There have been a few setbacks during my recovery. A little over a month in, I had to have a second procedure. The incision made to put my kneecap back together was not healing properly. I learned what a “wound vac” is, not by choice but by necessity. About the time I thought I was finally moving in a “linear” direction with my recovery – I can see the finish line and am headed straight toward it – another setback happened. This messes with my head; with my spirits. And yet, as is so often the case, I’m reminded of what I “preach” to my family business clients:

If we are pursuing reconciled relationship,

the journey is not linear.

It’s more like three steps forward; then two steps back. I’ve taken to calling it spiraling instead of linear. And so with my recovery. It’s not linear. It’s spiraling. While it feels at certain moments that the spiraling is downward (We’re spiraling down like when we flush the toilet.), I know in my head that’s not the case. We’re hopefully spiraling up, like walking up a spiral staircase.

Why a spiral staircase?

Why not just a straight line – a ladder of sorts?

While the ladder might be the quickest way up, the spiral staircase is more beautiful to look at. And, what might happen if we (I) enter that beauty?

Is there something there I might miss

by going in a straight line?

From my experience over these past few months, I’d answer with a resounding YES! So, I’ll try and be patient. I’ll persevere. And, along the way, maybe I’ll change for the better. Maybe even my CHARACTER will “spiral up.” That would be good, wouldn’t it? Tested character. “Purified” if you will. That purifying typically only happens as we go through “fire.” Fire burns; hopefully it burns away the “dross” – the impurities – the bad stuff. I TRUST and HOPE that proven character is being formed in me.

Back to the spiral staircase and ladder. I shared the following picture with a client a few weeks ago, and it stuck. Picture a new home being built. You walk in on the first floor. You can see the upstairs framed and maybe even with some plywood down, such that, if you could get up there, you could walk around upstairs. However, there are no stairs. You want to get up there because there’s a better view from upstairs. What’s the quickest way to go from Point A to Point B? A straight line, right? Well, in this case, the straight line is a ladder. That would get you there faster. Yet, you’ve heard a rumor that a master craftsman is coming to build a spiral staircase. So, despite your desire to see the view from upstairs, you wait…patiently. And, bit by bit, the craftsman plies his trade.

Over time a beautiful spiral staircase appears.

Worth the patient waiting.

And you appreciate not only the beauty of the staircase (the ladder sits lonely, forgotten in a shed or the back of a truck somewhere), but the long-anticipated beautiful view from the second floor. In light of this little story, which would you choose? The ladder or the stairs? As for me, I choose the stairs.