THE FOUNDATION HEIGHT FORMULA

The Foundation-Height Formula

May 7, 2015 (English)

Bible Text: 1 Kings 7:10 | Dr. Harold J. Sala

Series: The Guidelines Commentary


And the foundation [of the temple] was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 1 Kings 7:10, KJV

Philip Recto is one of Asia’s leading architects. His name and signature are on the building plans of scores of high-rise structures in Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur. His firm usually has 30 to 40 projects on the drawing board at the same time. When I had breakfast with this outstanding man and his lovely wife, I couldn’t resist taking advantage of his professional expertise. “I have a question that I’ve always wanted answered by someone who knows what he’s talking about.” Without waiting for a reply I asked, “How do you know how strong to make the foundation of a building?”

Philip smiled knowingly and said, “The height of a building is always in direct proportion to the strength of the foundation.” I suspected that, but now I know. The foundation of a building is the most important part of the structure, and likewise, laying the foundation in the lives of our children is tremendously important.

If a building’s height is determined by the strength of the foundation, is it not also true that the height of a child’s accomplishments may be determined by the strength of the foundation which parents lay in the formative years of the parenting process?

Helping your child understand that he is a person of value and worth helps lay the foundation of self-esteem. Helping your child understand that he or she is a person of great worth in the sight of God gives him the largeness of heart to serve others and not feel threatened by doing the small task. Surrounding your child with an environment of security helps him or her sleep at night and rise in the morning ready to accomplish something.

In this present series, I’ve been talking about the importance of laying a solid foundation in the parenting process. Among the important foundation stones are family cohesiveness and a measure of control or constraint, making tough decisions as to how much space you need between your home and the attitudes and habits of our culture.

When your youngster knows that you are behind him, he’s far more confident, more determined, and better able to adjust in a failure situation. Watch the kid who strikes out in a baseball game. Notice how invariably he’ll glance at the stands to see what mom’s reaction is--whether he feels acceptance or rejection. The parent who lays a foundation is there for his game, makes time to attend school functions, and is in church with the family. They are a unit. They hang together.

Notice the number of athletes who make it to the top in the Olympics. There are exceptions but generally their families paid the price of discipline, of rising early to take them to practice, of driving to support their kids when they played.

At the same time, the parent who lays a solid foundation has to decide how much outside interference a youngster can handle. Simply put, he has to decide what’s important, and how to protect that. He puts the emphasis on the positive and controls the negative which may include TV, movies, and even friends.

He’s the focal point, the magnifying glass, the perimeters which allow for growth and development.

The next time you look at the skyline and see a skyscraper towering in the clouds, remind yourself that the height of the building is always in direct proportion to the strength of the foundation, something that is true in growing kids just as it is in building buildings of concrete, steel, and glass. Please forgive my bias, but I’m still convinced that your influence in the life of a child may well outlast the skyscraper on the horizon. Think about it when you get discouraged in the task of parenting.

Resource reading: Read Psalm 127 in a contemporary version