I'M POUNDING AWAY

As I walked through the unfinished La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Spain I could hear the thunder of hammers pounding on the exterior. The cathedral has been under construction for over 150 years and is far from completion. Of all the beautiful architecture I was privileged to see on my trip to Spain, this was my favorite. I was wide eyed and slack jawed while staring at the detail of this immense structure.

I began to think about those hammers pounding away. So many construction workers have (I'm guessing) dedicated a significant portion of their lives working on this building while all the while knowing they would never see it finished. Even today the cathedral is so far away from being finished that those working on it are sure to never see the results. I thought about a nearly seventy year old man spending the last day of his life packing up his belongings after working over 50 years on the cathedral. How would that feel? Accomplished? Would it feel like something is missing?

In a way I think it may be a good parable for life in general...or the world. We are all working on the world over the course of our lives but we know we'll never see the end results. I suppose feeling a sense of contribution may be good enough. Life also. We work on ourselves, our thoughts, feelings, ideas and "spirits" (in quotes because this can mean very different things to different people). In the end, will we see what we strive for? Most likely not the big picture goals. Does it matter?

Again, I suppose in the case of the construction worker he works and counts on so many people to help move the cathedral forward in its plans that all he can do is his best. He goes to work each day, works as diligently and responsibly as possible so that he is always proud of himself and can take pride in his work. He knows he won't live to see the cathedral finished but he knows he did his best and he made a positive contribution.

I guess that's how I feel about life.