Knock Down. Build Up.

I found an old photo of me, around age three, gleefully knocking down a tower of wooden blocks. What I find most striking is how delighted I am to be destroying my own creation. If only we could hold obsolete beliefs, systems and structures we build that loosely! 

As adults, our desire for stability and permanence often quashes our ability engage in the natural ebb and flow of creation, especially when it involves dissolution. Trouble is, resisting that part of the process fuels our greatest suffering. 

What's the alternative? Second Corinthians advises that we “...fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

So in the midst of destruction, fix your sights on what's yet to emerge. Look beyond dissension and discord to the reformation of oppressive systems. See a world free of poverty and injustice. In your mind's eye, envision life evolving where death is occurring.

As we become present to the fullness of the creative process -- designing and destroying -- we see each step in context, experience it with a sense of purpose, and perhaps even find joy in the unfolding.