The Discipline of Foundations

When my father built anything, he never rushed the foundation. He would measure, pause, and measure again. Even when materials were scarce and time was short, he believed the strength of a structure depended on what was set first.

As a child, I didn’t always understand that patience. I wanted the end result—a finished room, a repaired instrument, something visible. But again and again, I watched him return to the beginning, making sure the planning was meticulous and the measurements exact. Preparation, he told me, is eighty percent of a job well done.

Later in life, I saw how deeply that lesson reached beyond wood, stone, and paint. In writing Dreams That Matter, I wanted to move quickly to the finished product. But the work demanded a foundation first—clarity, honesty, and the willingness to sit with memories I would rather have skipped. Without that foundation, the book would have been fragile, unable to carry the weight of what it is meant to hold.

The same is true in the work we do at JASPER. The beauty and longevity of a finished home depends on what cannot be seen: the soil tested, the footings poured, the unseen planning and diligence before the structure rises. That hidden preparation is what allows a home to carry families for generations.

And our lives are no different. We long for visible beauty, thriving relationships, purposeful work, dreams realized. But all of it rests on what lies beneath. Patience in the foundations creates strength in the whole.

So I leave you with this: What foundations are you setting today, and will they be strong enough to hold the life you’re building?

-Jasmine