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Writer's pictureDiana Smithson

What’s your foundation built upon?

I live in a place that is currently busting at the seems with growth. Houses, stores and even a temple is being built close to my home. It's an exiting time to be living when temples are literally dotting the earth.


As I'm watching these houses being built so quickly, it has me thinking a lot about the foundation. It seems as if one day they are digging and the next day the walls are up, because they're prefabricated. I don't get close enough to see the foundation and the process that it takes.


Winter is really a weird time to be building. It's cold and we've received quite a bit of moisture through rain and snow storms. Plastic is often covering the efforts of the workers in hopes to keep it dry as they continually push through deadlines. None the less, the protection seems to work as they press forward with the building.


Most houses in Utah have basements. This is foreign to me as I grew up in Virginia. It's nice to have the extra space a basement provides. I like looking at my house and thinking that's it's small but getting inside and it feeling plenty big. Yet something that I've noticed about Utah homes vs, Virginia homes is their foundations. Naturally you have to dig deeper to have a foundation for a basement, but it seems more solid. It intrigues me.


 

3 Types of House Foundations

Written by Lee Wallender

Updated 12/02/19

Every house is built on a foundation, but not every house is built on the same type of foundation. Foundation type is based on several factors, such as the house design, the geographical location and climate, soil and moisture conditions, and the project budget. But chances are your house has (or will have) one of these three foundations: full basement, crawlspace, or slab-on-grade.



 


Me and Jeremy loved walking homes that were being built while we were newly married students at BYU-Idaho, this was before I knew it was illegal to do so. (Honestly, we would still do it if we had time. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.). We dreamed of our future home and critiqued the layouts for our preferences. Even then, I was still amazed that every house we walked had stairs to the front door. In Virginia, we call them 'cement slabs'. Houses built on a thin sheet of cement.


If you've heard a primary song that the children in my church sing, it's called "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man."


1. The wise man built his house upon the rock,

The wise man built his house upon the rock,

The wise man built his house upon the rock,

And the rains came tumbling down.


2. The rains came down, and the floods came up,

The rains came down, and the floods came up,

The rains came down, and the floods came up,

And the house on the rock stood still.


3. The foolish man built his house upon the sand,

The foolish man built his house upon the sand,

The foolish man built his house upon the sand,

And the rains came tumbling down.


4. The rains came down, and the floods came up,

The rains came down, and the floods came up,

The rains came down, and the floods came up,

And the house on the sand washed away.


Words and music: Southern folk song


I'm grateful for the opportunity to study and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ with my family. Knowing the little I know about building houses and the damage that occurs when the 'rains' come down, this reminds me how to build my life.


Helaman 5:12 (The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall (fail).


Fall is the word that is used in the scriptures, however when the leader of our ward (physical boundaries) the bishop read this verse, he said fail, without even knowing it.


Just as a house will fall if there isn't a solid foundation when the rains descend, so too will it fail to have an existence.


This is symbolic of our lives. If we don't have a firm foot holding upon our values, standards and beliefs, it's as if someone comes by and hits us with a hockey stick and wipes us out onto our backs.


 

Let me get a little nerdy about my education as a personal trainer for a minute and share with you about the principle of balance. When standing, the further your feet are apart, the more firm your stance will be. Naturally when we stand, our feet are close together, especially if you're wearing a dress cause that would look weird! But think about if you were caught in a terrible wind storm, your brain would naturally tell your feet to spread apart to gain a firmness. Our brain will do this quicker and quicker the next time the winds are fierce, but only because it's been exposed to this behavior before.


 

When someone stands with their feet apart, I envision them holding something above their head in declaration. Their is clarity and conviction in their stance that says "I will stand firm and not fall (fail)"




Just like we can train our brains to stand firm when the physical winds beat upon us, we can train our brains mentally to stand firm when others challenge our beliefs, values, actions, etc. The more we practice it, the more firm we will become and the more natural it will become to do so.


I'm really grateful that these houses are being built so close to me and along my driving path to give me time to reflect upon firming up my own foundation. I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ who offers me relief and protection from the storms that exist in my life. Sometimes the storms pass over quickly and other times they hang on for longer than I think I can bear. Nonetheless, I believe in my Savior's power to teach me what I need to learn and increase my capacity to firm up my foundation. I believe in the words of The Book of Mormon that teach me how to look for the prophecies that have been foretold. These words will increase my ability to stand firm when the reality of these prophecies comes to fruition.


I can stand firm and immovable when others challenge me to question my beliefs.

You can too!





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