Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral

On April 2019 a fire broke out in the Notre Dame Cathedral destroying the spire and roof. Lauded as an architectural wonder the Cathedral had been attracting 12 million visitors a year. It truly is a sight to behold.

The best teams have been brought in to restore the building with the hope that the Cathedral can be reopened as soon as possible. We are a civilisation that expects things to happen quickly.

But what was it like for the labourers who laid the first stones back in 1163, they began work – knowing they would never see the building completed. Generations of craftsmen laboured on the site for 182 years.

What was it like to hammer away following the instructions of an architect who had died years earlier, knowing that neither you, nor your children, or grandchildren would see the Cathedral brought to completion.

You’d have to be content just knowing you were playing your small part in a great drama. It would be easier if you had confidence that somehow, somewhere a master builder had the overview.

Every year across the globe, much of the world stops to celebrate the birth of Jesus. A young couple far from home giving birth to a baby boy in temporary accommodation, in the company of some random shepherds. To the casual observer, it probably didn’t seem to be a momentous event, but in God’s master plan it was the long-awaited beginning of a new era for mankind.

If there is a lesson here… it is probably this: Be faithful to your responsibilities. Trust God! We don’t always understand what he is doing behind the scenes.