Fix Your Own Fence

Matthew 7:5

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

There was once a fence that a man owned. He watched is deteriorate slowly. He bemoaned the fact. But rather than fix it, he went on social media and elsewhere to decry the state of broken fences in the world. His tone was harsh and judgmental. In fact, he gave money to politicians who pledged that "They would attack those with broken fences." Tons of money was poured into law enforcement agencies to police and prosecute those with broken fences. The man took great satisfaction in his efforts. All the while, the fence in his backyard fell down. The man blamed society for his broken fence. 

This is modern retelling of the saying above from Matthew 7:5. 

Yesterday, I bit the bullet and went out to fix my fence. Last Fall my neighbor, who I share the fence with in our townhouse development, mentioned that the wood was rotting out where she had tried to nail some ornament onto it on her side. Since the crossbeams are on my side, the general responsibility falls to me to fix. I don't think it is a particularly wise idea to be pounding nails into a 25 year old fence but I got the message. It was my task to deal with it. 

The first purpose of any restoration process is to protect the wood. The fence is a good divider and keeps the vermin out of my garden. It serves a purpose. The second goal of any restoration is to make something look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I succeeded on the first goal. The cross-beams have been spackled, re-stained, and painted (the facing). I have extended the life of the fence for another decade. I am not going to win any style awards for what I did. In order to rehab the fence, I had to compromise style. 

The rotting cross beam was a harbinger of things to come, a first warning. Ignore it, then deal with more rot and possibly have to replace the fence at great cost. When I posted the pics on Facebook yesterday, a couple who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary in Antigua chimed in that their fence at home was falling apart and it was probably too late to do anything but to tear it down and rebuild it. They had inherited a decaying fence. 

I felt bad that in their island getaway that the fence issue was brought to mind. The guy, who I was a roommate with in college commented "This summer Antigua. Next summer, the fence!" I hope they had a cold beer and let their focus drift back to the beach, waves, and warm ocean breezes. Their marriage of 20 years shows that they are committed to the sanctity of marriage. They show it to be important by their actions. I am divorced and no role model of a "Focus on the Family" type of vibe. Reminds me of a bumper sticker that I saw during Dobson's reign at FOF. "Focus on your own damn family." I think I saw this when I was in Colorado Springs (FOF HQ)  back in '99. So, I have fidelity in fence issues myself of a significant nature. Yes, I am a hypocrite...I am also human. Broken fence life.    

My marital dissolution has humbled me and made me less harsh on those who have also struggled. I see things a little different now looking back than I did looking forward. It has actually been a real struggle to work through it all...I have come to the place, like the Publican, where I say, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." I don't want to cop out and wash my hands of the failure. I also don't want it to define me like I should list it on my tombstone or something. There is a balance of moving on but not losing the lesson that I have tried to figure out.   

Jesus teaches us that we need to practice what we preach. Politics offers that temptation for public piety while practicing decidedly un-pious behavior behind closed doors. Evangelical Christians are now experiencing a backlash on using the political sword to coerce behavior. Politics in America comes down to majority vote. It is a numbers game, as well as Benjamins in the coffer. Because we tried to enforce a public morality that we often ourselves didn't practice, we see the sword cutting both ways. In life we often discount small acts of faithfulness done consistently versus the swing for the fences. Small repairs stave off huge expenditures. 

My brother and I over the 4th of July weekend discussed the decaying infrastructure in Pennsylvania. We have a lot of streams and rivers, thus we have a lot of bridges. We also get a lot of rain which tends to cause rot and rust. There bridges have not been maintenanced adequately. So, they go from having minor problems to major issues. The bridges become dangerous and then a multi-million dollar construction gets put on the agenda.   

First, fix your own fence. Then maybe, maybe, you will know how to help others' fix theirs.