Rick McDaniel: We’re all below production
I recently had the opportunity to visit La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family Church) in Barcelona, Spain. It is a tremendous sight—a church that genuinely seems like no other in the world.
And I know my churches. I’ve visited church buildings on six continents, including many well-known ones like St. Peter’s in Rome, the Duomo in Milan, St. Paul’s in New York, and Westminster Abbey in London.
This church is notable not only for its structure but also for something else: It’s not finished. Construction on the church has lasted for 137 years!
A well-known Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi, designed and worked on the church for 46 years. Shortly before his loss of life in 1926, the first tower was finished; seven extra towers were completed, and every other ten were in production.
Gaudi’s imagination and prescience for the church encouraged the elevation of emotions, inviting human beings to worship God. He became a deeply devoted Christian. He practiced his faith and incorporated it into the entirety of the construction. The concept of himself as “God’s architect.”
He knew his vision would be big and would take time to construct. He immediately said, “My God is not in a rush.”
The engineering design is full-size, with an unprecedented eighteen towers (12 are for the apostles, four are for the evangelists, one is for Mary, and the most important tower—at one hundred seventy meters—is for Jesus). Then there are the problematic facades full of sculptures telling the story of Jesus’s life.
Construction stopped for two decades during the Spanish Civil War. Afterward, upkeep had to be done to the inside of the church, and paintings resumed slowly as donations assisted in repairing the construction.
In 2010, the church was finally completed. Pope Benedict visited to dedicate the construction. However, the exterior of the church remains incomplete. The goal for the finishing touch is 2026, notably one hundred years after Gaudi’s demise.
There is so much to the church. To create and pay for such a unique building takes time, although 137 years does seem excessive. So, for now, La Sagrada Familia remains below construction, and we can see if, in seven years, the church will eventually be finished.
But a masterpiece is not made in a single day — or even in many nights. It takes time for the work to be finished in our lives, and regularly, it’s longer than we suppose it should take. We can get annoyed with the slow or stalled boom and want extra.
Of path, there are instances when we have setbacks. Just as the Spanish Civil War interrupted construction for two decades, we can also have interruptions. Illness strikes, relationships give up, and we suffer loss. In those situations, we must regroup and retain on the journey.
Many people, including the Catholic church, Barcelonans, and supporters worldwide, have completed La Sagrada Familia. They continued long after Gaudi’s death and managed to keep going despite the low budget.
La Sagrada Familia has been on a 137-year fundraising enchantment. Various benefactors have helped with construction expenses over time. Today, the church gets over 10 million Euros a year just from traveler costs, helping to finish creation.
I know what it’s worth to construct a church facility. It’s expensive and calls for lots of fundraising. Building and expanding our church has taken persistence.
We have to address deficits in our lives. No one is proof of financial challenges. When we lose a job or hit a financial roadblock, it can seem like a loss of resources will keep us from figuring out our dream. But Philippians 1:6 tells us, “He who has started an awesome painting in you will complete it.”
Sometimes, we struggle with an alternate. When La Sagrada Familia’s second facade was completed in 1994, many people no longer loved it. The sculptures were special from the primary facade. It was not just the style but the feeling it evoked. The first told the tale of Jesus’s beginning and the second of his passion. The first was more comfortable, the second more intense. But through the years, human beings came to accept it.
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You will work through adjustments to your life. You can trade without developing, but you can’t grow without changing. Being beneath the construction approach means being open to advantageous exchanges in your existence.
It won’t be 137; however, for as long as you exist, you are under construction, becoming who God created you to be. Remain open to opportunities, persevere through problems, and be committed to finishing your life nicely.
