"Fallingwater"

My wife Joanne and I try to visit as many local attractions as we can and although this site is over 200 miles away, I consider that local.  We took an overnight trip to western Pennsylvania to visit 'Fallingwater' the home that was built in the 1930's by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  Although not a student of Wrights' I have been intrigued by him after visiting a number of structures designed by him.  It started with a church in Redding, California and the Marin County Civic Center building. We were able to visit his famed west coast school Taliesin West near Scottsdale, Arizona this past March which was my first real introduction to Wright the architect.

               There is so much about this complex man that is worthy of note.  He did his most impressive work after age 65 which includes 'Fallingwater' and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.  Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. 'Fallingwater' is a wonderful example of this philosophy.  It is a home that is built over a 30 foot waterfall.  Everything about it points to the outside environment.  When you enter a room your eyes go to the windows and outside.  The boulders are built into the house and protrude into rooms.  The furniture was designed and built by Wright into the rooms.  It uses a 'cantilever style' construction so the rooms are open with limited obstructions.  The house is a showplace of planning, forethought, and intentionality.  Every detail was thought through from the location of the windows, so they accentuate the outside, to the radiant heaters that are hid inside furniture.  He had very definite ideas about everything in the house, nothing was left to chance but was calculated and intentional.

               As I reflected more about Frank Lloyd Wright I thought of other amazing creative souls like Victor Hugo, Johann Sebastian Bach, Michelangelo, William Shakespeare and a host of others who were exceptional in their fields.  A common thread that I see through all these people is that they have what Dallas Willard calls VIM: Vision, Intentionality and Means.  They had a laser focus on what they felt needed to be produced and they did the work with great results because there were so good.  If have heard that it takes 10.000 hours to be an expert at anything.  I have found that number to be conservative.  To be an expert takes many more hours that most of us are willing to invest.  How about your spiritual life? Are you just doing that as a hobby, as an avocation, as something to do when you are not busy?  That is not going to work if you are looking for transformation or excellence.  Consider the cost and the benefit that comes from such an effort.  What is God saying to you about that?  What is He inviting you to?