The past week we heard that the Notre Dame in Paris, France, one of the world’s most popular attractions, burned down. What an incredible building that stood the test of time for almost 700 years since completion.
I wonder how many modern day buildings would still be here 700 years from now.
Work on the Notre Dame started in 1163 and was only completed 182 years later in 1345. This means that the architect or whoever designed it never even saw the end result of his design and a couple of generations had to work on what the designer had in mind.
Rebuilding Notre Dame
The Notre Dame was restored and renewed from 1845 till 1864 over a period of 19 years. How many of us nowadays have the patience to take on a project that will take 19 years to complete, or who has the vision to plan a project that you know beforehand you will not see completed during your lifetime. I think it may be somewhat beyond our grasp as a society that likes instant gratification.
Within 24 hours hundreds of millions of Euros have already been donated for the restoration and rebuilding of the Notre Dame which some people estimate will cost billions to rebuild. I wonder how long it will take to restore the Notre Dame to its former glory.
Rebuilding a life
But sometimes in life things happen that bring us to a point where we also need to rebuild our lives. Sometimes a person is hit by tragedy and sometimes by one’s own doing.
The difficult thing though is to find the courage to once again start from scratch.
When you lose everything that you’ve worked for all your life, it is not that easy to once again start from the very beginning.
So how do you go about to rebuild your life after an unfortunate turn of events?
# Tiger Woods
During the same week as the Notre Dame catastrophe we learned that Tiger Woods made a huge comeback by winning his first major golf title in eleven years.
Woods, once seen as the greatest golfer since Jack Nicklaus, got divorced from his wife after the revelation in 2009 of a series of adulterous affairs he had been involved in. This had a major impact on his lustrous career.
Psychologically he was in the doldrums because of all the negative publicity he received. Things went from bad to worse. Besides struggling with his golfing career his body also took strain. He had three operations to his knee and four to his back.
It got so bad that at a champion’s dinner two years ago he announced that he will not play golf again. During April 2017 he had another major operation and thereafter many months of rehabilitation before he could eventually start to swing a golf club again.
Fourteen years
And now for the first time in fourteen years he once again won the American Masters at Augusta.
His children, ten and eleven years old have never before even seen their dad win a major golf tournament.
In the Bible we read about Job who also lost everything, all ten his children, all his wealth and to top it all, his health. In Job 2:12-13 we see that when his friends visited him, they did not even recognise him and for seven days, because of his great grieve, just sat there next to him without even speaking a word. Yet we all know that he recovered and in the end he once again had 10 children, twice the wealth and he lived another 140 years.
Yet, when you feel down and out, the best advice and comfort is found in Ps 121:1-2 “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – From where comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” and Is 42:3 says “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.”
Should you need a change in the direction of your life to be able to successfully rebuild a life, a Career Direct Assessment will point you in the right direction. I can assure you, it will make all the difference.
Also tune in to my radio program “Jy die Entrepreneur” Monday evenings at 20:00 and Saturdays 12:30 on Radio Namakwaland www.934fm.co.za.
