Just Get Started

How To Make Your Dent In The Universe

In the fall of 2017, my wife and I went to Italy. I had promised this trip to her in 2009 as a gift for a milestone birthday, so you can safely deduce two things: I do keep my promises… but I am not always the most timely! We spent the month of September seeing incredible things, learning a lot, enjoying some great food and wine and making beautiful memories. We also visited one cathedral that changed the way I look at life. Seriously.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo as many people call it, is found in the city of Florence. It’s a magnificent building but it wasn’t the architecture or the art that made the biggest impact on me, it was the story of how the cathedral came to be. It began with an inspiring vision — to build the largest church in the world. The builders laid the first stone in 1296, even though there was one small problem: the design called for a dome that no one knew how to build. No one had ever built a selfsupporting dome 150 feet in diameter, let alone constructed it on top of octagonal walls 80 metres high. There wasn’t even machinery that could lift the building material to that height! Still the builders got started doing what they knew how to do and built the rest of the church. The dome remained just a dream until 1420 when goldsmith Filippo Brunelleschi devised a plan to construct the dome and finish the church.

And that is just what he did, finishing the dome 16 years later. The Duomo was consecrated in 1436 and it still stands magnificently today almost 6 centuries later. Great story, isn’t it? But there are also some great principles for me and for you and for anyone who wants to make an impact on their world.

1. JUST GET STARTED.

Begin with the resources you do have, and don’t be paralyzed by what you don’t have or the questions that are unanswered.The resources and the answers often come once we are moving forward. The phrase we use around FamilyLifeCanada is “start where you are and do what you can”. We can’t always control the ultimate fruit of our efforts, but we can count on this — if we don’t start, therewill never be any fruit. Guaranteed.

2. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE DESTINATION.

Over the 140 long years of buildingthe Duomo, they kept a model of theoriginal design in an alcove as a guideand an inspiration to keep building.When change seems slow and the goallooks impossible, find ways to keepcoming back to that vision for yourlife, your marriage, your ministry, yourcommunity, that first inspired you.Journal it. Share it with friends. Pray it.But don’t lose sight of it.

3. EXPECT SOME DIFFICULTIES.

Not everything went smoothly for Brunelleschi. Cracks appeared in the dome in 1429, but he found a way to repair them. A local architect, Lorenzo Ghiberti, jealous because he was not chosen to build the dome, slandered Brunelleschi’s work and his character and even arranged to have him briefly imprisoned in 1434. In spite of the adversity, the work continued, and the project was completed two years later.

4. MAKE HONOURING GOD THE ULTIMATE GOAL.

We can easily admire Brunelleschi’sgenius and his indomitable spirit, but weshouldn’t miss the fact that 114 metresbelow his magnificent dome lay thereason for his work. The altar. His domecompleted the church and protected thefocal point of worship for all who wouldgather there for centuries to come.

It’s a magnificent cathedral. But how itcame to be is even more inspiring. Thestory of the Duomo has helped me thinkdifferently about building greatness — inmy marriage, my family, my communityand our country. I hope it does the samefor you.

/ NEIL JOSEPHSON is the National Directorwith FamilyLife Canada.Neil, together withhis wife Sharol, lead FamilyLife Canada. Neilloves to learn, teach and write about anythingrelated to marriage, family and Christiandiscipleship. Married since 1978, Neil andSharol have two great sons, two awesomedaugther-in-laws and four of the sweetestgrandchildren ever.