When Walls Fall

On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan spoke to Mikhail Gorbachev. The only thing was Mr. Gorbachev wasn't exactly there. But he didn't miss the words spoken to him from the President of the free world as President Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall. One of my favorite books is When Character was King:A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan. She records these words from that momentous day:

"We welcome change and open-ness, for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. This is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

I've always loved this moment. Even had outlandish Amber quote it in my book Savannah from Savannah. But I never dreamed that one day I'd see it, touch it and have a piece of it. But last Monday I did. And my dad snapped this picture. I didn't know he had taken it, but I did know that as powerful as the wall that was in front of me, were the figurative walls that still stand all around us. Some are in our hearts. Some still reside in our culture. But each one still divides those things that were meant to be united.

As I've watched this election season, no matter what your political leaning, we shouldn't miss the power of the walls that are coming down. It wasn't until I was in the fourth grade that I went to school with African American children. By middle school two of my closest friends were black. One was Corliss Green. Though she demanded I call her "Collard Green". We all got a kick out of that. Walls that I didn't even know I had, began to come down and deep relationships were developed. Yet, I've been amazed at the racial divide that still exists in this nation. So, to watch Barak Obama rise to the opportunity that he has, if it hasn't destroyed this wall of division, it has at least done severe damage.

Then we watched as a woman was nominated for the vice presidency. Granted you couldn't pay me to take the job, but we have watched once again as walls are beginning to fall. Yet chasms still exist.

Yet, for most of us it isn't the global walls we're as concerned about because we have our own personal walls to deal with. Many of them reside under our own roof. They are walls built up in the middle of our beds separating husband and wife. Or drawn down the center of the dining room table. Maybe they are walls built between us and a friend, an extended family member, a co-worker.

Or maybe our walls are internal. Our walls of self-doubt. Our walls of pride. Our walls of self-protection. Whatever they are, the words are still true. They need to come down. Why? Because of the damage they do. They divide. They separate. They remove the ability of true perspective. The remove the joy of truly living.

In Reagan's famous Evil Empire speech that he made at the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, he closed with this statement:
"While America's military strength is important, let me add here that I've always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith."

Pretty much the same for us. The global wars we face won't be truly defeated by bombs or rockets, or even by our precious men and women in uniform. (May God keep them safe.) Even though wars are often noble and necessary. And global wars won't be won by one political party or another either. Politics nor politicians can save us from the real enemy. Because the enemy that leads us even into natural wars has at its source a spiritual root. Every war we've ever been a part of always has.

And the wars of our life and the walls we've built won't come down with simply more war either. With the war of our words. Or our cold shoulder. Or our unreturned phone calls. They won't be decided by who can hold out the longest or who can make their point the loudest.

The walls of life, both global and personal will never fall until there is a crisis of faith. Until we realize that the real crisis is spiritual. That's why God tore down his wall when Jesus died. And when that veil was rent, and that wall came down, "mercy came running" in our direction. And the grace we need to tear down the walls of our heart was made available. And when the hardness of our heart is melted by truth and our walls fall, real healing can begin.

I'm not sure what gave Ronald Reagan the desire to see that wall come down that day. Maybe he knew what walls were like and he didn't want anyone else to have to live with one. That's usually how it happens. We speak from what we know. But all I know is he did. And it did.

I've been chiseling away at my walls for a while now. Somedays I see more progress than others. Somedays my arms are tired. But I know there's something on the other side worth having. And I also know that I don't want anything obstructing my view...if you'd like to borrow my jackhammer when I'm through I'll be glad to loan it to you. I don't know if you have to sharpen jackhammer's or not. But if you do, it will probably need it.