Foundation Laying

One thing I love about being in the heart of the arts district of Fort Worth is being able to walk just blocks to some of the finest museums in the world. One of those museums, the Kimball, just created a new addition to their facility. Designed by famed archited Renzo Piano it added additional gallery and performance space as well as reoriented the Kimball's land usage back to its original configuration.

They just released this video. A time lapse sequence of the construction over two years of the new Renzo Piano Pavilion. What impressed me as I watched this little video was not just the completed project, which is lovely, but the time it took to prepare for the construction. About 80% of this video shows nothing that would resemble the finished product. It is not until all the ground preparation has been completed and the foundation has been laid that we see the building take shape.

So many of us reach for glory. We want that last 20% of the work to come right now. To finish the marathon without the training. To speak another language without the study. To have success in our relationships without the work of daily life together. I see this in the church all the time. People want to be up front, they want to lead the bible study, they want to contribute their thoughts. But how many are willing to mow the grass or wash the windows? To sit in the nursery so other parents can go to worship? To sing in the choir to support the congregational song, not to be a soloist?

Jesus spent a lot of time with his disciples laying the ground work. He was with them day after day. Coaching, challenging, empowering, and pushing them. And a lot of that work seemed to be failure, especially when they all deserted him at the end. However, without that work would the early church had any leaders?

Most of what we do everyday is foundation laying and preparation. It isn't glamorous and sometimes it looks like we aren't making progress. But this is where the work gets done that makes that last 20% possible.