More Bridges

I recently received a copy of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (my undergraduate university) 125th anniversary commemorative year book. I find it interesting how sometimes a theme or topic, such as LCR’s 2019 theme “Bridges” that has been a part of my recent focus appears in unexpected places. They have a section recognizing individuals who jumpstarted the university’s first comprehensive capital campaign. They describe it as building a bridge to the future, one friend at a time. The acknowledgement is preceded by a two-page verse entitled “Bridge Builders”. I thought it is interesting how it discusses bridges we build do not necessarily have to be for our own benefit. They can be a gift to those coming after us.

Bridge Builders

An old man, going a lone highway,

Came at the evening cold and gray

To a chasm vast and deep and wide

Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;

The rapids held no fears for him.

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near,

“You’re wasting your time in building here.

Your journey will end with the closing day;

You never again will pass this way.

You have crossed the chasm deep and wide;

Why build you this bridge at even-tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head.

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There follows after me today

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This stream, which has been naught to me,

To that fair youth may a pitfall be.

He too must cross in the twilight dim—

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

- Will Allen Dromgoole

Taken from the 2019 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 125th anniversary yearbook Then, Now, Forever

#faith #bridgebuilding