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For several years, my spouse and I were blessed to be Sunday School teachers for students in the eighth grade. My favorite lesson combined two of my loves, the parables of Jesus and LEGO® bricks.

First, we read one of the parables of the builders from the Bible aloud:

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27 NIV)

or

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:46-49 NIV)

After this, we gave each student a small bag with twenty-one LEGO® bricks of different sizes and shapes. Each bag had exactly the same combination of bricks. We instructed the students to build the tallest and sturdiest structure they could in a few minutes. The builders of the structures that were standing at the end of the “time of testing” would be the winners. We promised that we would not touch their structures during any part of the “testing” phase of the game.

We told these bright and thoughtful junior high students when to start building their tall and sturdy structures. As the building time came to an end, we told them to make sure everything was done to the best of their ability. We asked them to step back from their creations. First, I blew on some of the taller buildings knocking a few of them down. For those I couldn’t blow over, I started shaking or banging on the white plastic folding tables the creations were built upon. I didn’t touch their structures as promised. With this, many of the structures toppled and some fell to the floor and shattered. If there were any structures still standing by this point, I flipped the tables on their sides sending the carefully built buildings to their doom. Some of the students covered their ears as the tables banged against the hard tile floor. Every structure was in pieces on the floor. There were no winners.

As the young builders recovered from their shock, we set the tables upright again, the students gathered up some of the pieces of their constructions, and we retook our seats. We asked them what could have been done differently to avoid total destruction and win the challenge. After an uncomfortable time of silence, we read one of the parables of the builders again. I asked the same question again, and the students still didn’t respond. I quickly built a LEGO® brick structure and placed it on the tiled concrete slab floor. I blew on my quickly thrown-together building as hard as I could, stomped all around it, shouted at it, and did everything I could to get it to topple over without touching it. No matter how hard I tried, I could not make it fall.

We talked about how we build our lives on things that do not last or that are unreal. We chase after social acceptance. We think that if we have enough money, all of our problems will be solved. We are taught that finding the right career will bring us everything we need or that a romantic relationship is what will keep us safe and happy. We build our comfortable lives upon layers and layers of faulty philosophies, systems, processes, and institutions created by people out of ignorance and arrogance, not the Love of God.

Most of us have built our lives upon the shifting sands of contemporary human concepts and values. We refuse to dig deeper as we build our lives to make sure that our foundations are fully in contact with God, Whose Love does not depend upon changing material circumstances.

We talked about the only thing in the universe that provides an unshakable foundation for our lives, the Unconditional Divine Love of God. We all have experienced and will experience many more challenges. These tests provide opportunities to distinguish between what is true, eternal, and indestructible and what is false, temporary, and fragile.

Just as I encouraged our students to seek the Creator’s Essence of Divine Love, I encourage you, dear reader, to do the same. Our fabricated world is much more fragile than we realize. So much of what we have built is teetering on the brink of collapse. Instead of scrambling to keep our flimsy creations intact, I implore each of us to dig deep within ourselves, reach to our Creator for the gift of Divine Love that transcends our feeble constructs, and prepare ourselves for the continued disintegration of the human world. 

While many will choose to resist the inevitable, God’s World of Unconditional Love is beginning to shine through the cracks of our pseudo-reality. The many layers of fear, domination, oppression, lack, degradation, pollution, toxicity, hatred, and disease we continue to co-create will dissolve in the Divine Light and Love that God is pouring upon us and our world. 

Each of us has a choice – to awaken or to press the snooze button. Sleeping and snoozing will not be viable options for much longer. May we awaken to the Life and Love of the Source and the unique purpose that burns without each of us. May we release the limitations of our old lives and build our new lives upon the Love of our Creator even as the illusory world we have created disappears.