During my last holidays I had a chance to put in a pathway laid with 100 year-old brick. The individual bricks looked wonderful, showing lots of character for their long lives as part of a kiln.

But, I’m still not happy! The process of putting in the pathway meant digging out the area to an appropriate depth, and then started the process of levelling.

The first stage was to lay down road-base, which goes quite hard when wet. On top of that layer I put down sand, about 50mm thick, and screened that to a levelled string line.

Then I began to lay a border of bricks. Mixing the mortar and putting enough in the right spot worked OK, but then the biggest challenge arrived. Because the bricks had been made for a kiln, each brick was just a slightly different shape, and needed different amounts of mortar to fit the levelled string line.

By the end of the laying process, there were quite a few lumps and bumps through the path. Different amounts of sand were therefore needed to smooth each section of the foundation.

People are so much like bricks. They each need individual attention, each having their own character and uniqueness, but making an interesting collage of relationships.

TODAY… value the individual by building strong, respectful and unique relationships!

“We are all parts of Christ’s body, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others.” Romans 12:4b,5

Bruce Wadd brucewadd@todaysthought.sharesong.org