Old Walls

I love old buildings!  Do you?

I look at them and I see stories.  I sometimes think that if you listen closely enough,...

... you can hear the laughter from generations gone by.  I especially like to take note of the remnants of old paint that shows that at one time the place was cared for and meant something to someone.  Often, many of the old buildings that I find are best for photography are still somewhat cared for.  The trees have not grown up around them, the grass is mown at least a few times a year, and the building is allowed to continue to take up space on someone's property.

A few days after I took pictures of this old house, I found myself singing along to Andrew Ripp's song "Jericho" on the car radio.  I started thinking about how I have built some walls in my life.  Some of them I considered useful for a time.  I found great comfort and happiness living behind some of those walls.  I even have some walls that are in my story because they were built by the generations that came before me.  

As I sang along with the song, I realized that when the walls of Jericho were built, it was with the belief that they would last forever.  They would provide protection.  Inside was to be a place of security and happiness, but at the beginning of the story of Jericho  we see that the gates of the city were "tightly shut because the people were afraid".  They were afraid of the Israelites and the God they served.  I started wondering, how many of the metaphorical walls that I have allowed to remain standing on the property of my heart and mind are still there because I fear letting them go.  They are places I cherish, even if they are ones that cause me pain or hold me back.  

It is my hope that the building in these pictures is allowed to remain standing for many years to come.  However, I want to take inventory of my walls.  Which walls like "Jericho walls gotta come down, come down"?  As a child of God, I no longer need walls to hide behind because my security and happiness are found in the loving arms of my Savior.  

What are your thoughts?  

​To read more about the story of Jericho and the amazing way God demolished their walls, you can find it recorded in the Bible in Joshua 6:1-27.  Also, if you want to hear, Andrew Ripp's song "Jericho", it can be found here on YouTube.