Burning Bridges

Recently when I was at a crossroads in my life, a dear friend showed up with a gift for no apparent reason other than Spirit put it upon her heart to purchase it for me. The gift was a small plaque that read The Hardest Thing in Life is to Know Which Bridge to Cross and Which Bridge to Burn. Wow! I thought! All of my adult life I have been taught never to burn bridges, but this gift helped me to see that maybe I had received poor advice.

Without a bridge we often look at physical obstacles, like a body of water or two mountains, and think it impossible to cross, but the bridge that spans these obstacles makes forward movement possible. The funny thing is there are some bridges in our lives that were to serve one purpose and one purpose only and that was to get us to the other side. The problem occurs when we get to the other side and then want to walk back across the bridge to what we once walked away from.

So how do we ever know which bridge to burn and which one to cross? It helps to identify what the bridge was constructed to carry in the first place. Just as in construction each bridge is designed for a purpose. Some are intended to carry water, others lumber, trains or automobiles. In the spiritual sense, bridges appear in the form of relationships, career choices, and new opportunities. We must also pay attention to the unattended usage of bridges. The space beneath real bridges becomes shelter for the homeless and places for illegal activity and graffiti. Even our spiritual bridges have unintended uses: they often serve as obstacles instead of constructions to span obstacles. They keep us in a place that we should have left long ago.

There are some bridges in my own life that I am prepared to burn. They served me well and got me to this point, but I am no longer willing to walk the same terrain that I’ve been walking for years. I am ready for new vistas, new horizons, and I have lit the torch and am prepared to throw it

Yes, it is scary because there is not a bridge before me and I am about to burn the ones behind me, but I’m trusting Spirit to put a new bridge beneath my feet as I take these first steps.