Taking the Time to Make a Difference

As we toured the city, looking at buildings, I learned something about families. We recently spent a day in Columbus, Ind., where we took a two-hour tour of some architecture and art. The city, with a population of almost 40,000, is ranked sixth in the nation for architectural innovation and design by the American Institute of Architects, according to the city’s website. Smithsonian Magazine called Columbus a "veritable museum of modern architecture" with more than 70 buildings and pieces of public art by internationally noted architects and artists, including I.M. Pei, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier, Harry Weese, Dale Chihuly and Henry Moore. In two hours, of course, we didn’t see everything that was to be seen. We toured two buildings inside and out, and drove past many others on a tour bus. One of the buildings we toured was the First Christian Church, dedicated in 1942. It was designed by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, and it is considered one of the first examples of modern architecture in the country. Eero Saarinen, son of the architect who designed the First Christian Church, designed the Irwin Union Bank which was constructed in 1954. As our tour guide explained the situation, though, the next step toward architectural innovation came about through a combination of business, education and civic forces. After some discussion in the community about school buildings, the Cummins Engine Foundation provided a list of architects and offered to pay the architect’s fee for a new school building. That offer led to the construction of the Schmitt Elementary School in 1957, and then to other schools and public buildings. With the stimulus from Cummins, other companies and church congregations also decided to find innovative architects for their projects. I am certain that not everyone on the tour bus with us had the same response to what we saw. But everybody had some response, I am sure. The buildings and the artworks we saw wouldn’t let anyone walk away without a reaction.

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What struck me most about the tour, as I reflected on it a few days later, was the intentional nature of what took place in Columbus. The nineteenth century courthouse was an attractive building, and there were certainly some early city efforts toward quality design and construction, but the encouragement from Cummins gave the city a major push toward innovation and excellence. This is a lesson for families, I concluded. Many of our parents and ancestors gave us excellent beginnings, appreciation for our faith, solid values, good roots, strong foundations – the kind of things we may not even notice in the present, but cherish more and more as we look back over the years. But what they did was not an accident.

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“Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build,” we read in Psalm 127. “Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.”

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“If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot's inclination wishes. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire.”

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Who is the architect of your family? What share do you have in it? Certainly many in Columbus could say, using an innovative architect is expensive and impractical. Certainly a family today could say, we can’t have dinner together, or go to Mass together, it’s just not practical. Certainly, the response to a family decision – meals together, for example – may be varied among the members. But that is all the more reason such a decision will make a strong impression and even inspire others. Take the time today to shape your family life with the Lord as your guide.

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