A couple of days ago, I blogged about us being temples of the Holy Spirit. But we are very much still under construction. In fact, we are perpetual \u201cworks in progress\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And speaking of works in progress, let’s talk about the grand basilica, the Sagrada Familia in the heart of Barcelona, Spain. If you thought your home renovations took forever, this architectural marvel has been \u201ccoming soon\u201d for over 140 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story behind Sagrada Familia\u2019s lengthy timeline is a mix of tragedy and comedy. The visionary behind this masterpiece, Antoni Gaud\u00ed, was called to the great drafting board in the sky quite unexpectedly, leaving his monumental task unfinished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Add to that design changes, funding woes, and a couple of historical hiccups like the Spanish Civil War and the COVID-19 pandemic, and we\u2019ve got a recipe for \u201cMaybe Next Century.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, it stands as a monumental masterpiece of art beyond description. Talk about patience and persistence. It\u2019s a stark reminder that good things (and apparently, massive basilicas) come to those who wait\u2026and wait\u2026and perhaps wait some more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The construction of Sagrada Familia beautifully parallels our own spiritual journeys. Just as Gaud\u00ed’s successors picked up where he left off, God is always working on us. He continuously chisels away our rough edges \u2013 like our character, attitude and spiritual flaws \u2013 and then turns us into His masterpieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might as well get used to it, because He isn\u2019t finished with us yet. I still love that old Bill Gaither kids\u2019 song, \u201cHe’s still working on me — To make me what I ought to be — It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars — The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars — How loving and patient He must be — ‘Cause He’s still working on me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each one of us stands both as a masterpiece and a work in progress. As God\u2019s handcrafted artworks, we might as well accept His guidance as our Great Sculptor\u2014Who, with love and patience, sculpts us for His grand exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The beauty of the Sagrada Familia, even unfinished, draws millions who marvel at its grandeur. In our lives, though we are incomplete, others often admire the work God does within us and through us as they see His love and light reflected in our actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May we rest in being God\u2019s ongoing construction project. Father knows best. He isn\u2019t finished with us yet. So the next time you feel a spiritual \u201cOuch! Lord, I thought you had finished that side of me!\u201d just smile and remember — the Sagrada Familia basilica and you and me who are all our Master\u2019s Work of Art!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A couple of days ago, I blogged about us being temples of the Holy Spirit. But we are very much still under construction. In fact, we are perpetual \u201cworks in progress\u201d! And speaking of works in progress, let’s talk about the grand basilica, the Sagrada Familia in the heart of Barcelona, Spain. If you thought…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29998,29997,1519,29996,5641,5100,1210,30000,29999,1769,9379,1392,1802,28789,40,25111,25769,29995,30001,12841,5427,29994,5682,3186],"class_list":["post-20290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antoni-gaudi","tag-architectural-marel","tag-attitude","tag-barcelona-spain","tag-basilica","tag-bill-gaither","tag-blog","tag-characgter","tag-chisels","tag-christian","tag-comedy","tag-facebook","tag-handcrafted","tag-hes-still-working-on-me","tag-inspiration","tag-ouch","tag-rough-edges","tag-sagrada-familia","tag-spiritual-flaws","tag-temple-of-the-holy-spirit","tag-tragedy","tag-under-construction","tag-work-in-progress","tag-work-of-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20292,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290\/revisions\/20292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}