´e Tutto Buono... It's All Good: Awestruck

I have always had a love for old, big cathedrals. Seriously, I am like a bee to honey when I see one. If you ask my husband or son, they would probably say that when I am visiting a place I leave no cathedral unvisited. That isn't quite true however because some places have so many it would take several trips to see them all. Which I just might have to do. In particular, I am in love with the old cathedrals in Europe-- mostly because here in the U.S. we have few cathedrals that actually compare in size.

I love that over in Europe you have to keep your shoulders and knees covered out of a sense of respect. I love the smell of age, incense, and burning candle wax that permeates these buildings. I love the dimness of the nooks and crannies. I'm in love with the feeling of being small when I stand in the middle of one of these grand churches and crane my head up, up, up to look towards the extremely high ceilings. I love the fact that they employ "shushers." Most of the cathedrals are working places of worship, and as such they ask you to be quiet out of respect to those who may be praying. Tourists, being tourists, often forget in their excitement to be quiet-- thus some of the larger, more visited cathedrals have people who remind you to be quiet by shushing you. Some do it over a P.A. system, which is interesting. I love the carvings, the sculpture, the stained glass windows, and the paintings often contained within these structures. I get practically giddy when I am in a cathedral where I am allowed to climb well worn staircases made of stone. The fact that you can see the worn spots where people have walked up and down for centuries is amazing to me. I particularly love cathedrals that contain some of the old wooden benches, where people have sat and worshiped and prayed for years. I love the way the sunbeams shine through the windows to illuminate parts of the flooring, or the alter, or a piece of artwork. I love the patterns left on the floor by sunbeams passing through a stained glass window. I'm in awe of the domes and buttresses. All of it time consumingly handcrafted. I love the fact that these buildings have seen some of the worst that people and life can throw at them, and yet, they are still here. They have withstood changes in political power, famine, war, natural disaster, times of plenty and times of scarcity... and they still stand.

If I were to describe the feeling I get every time I walk into one of these buildings, the word would be Awestruck. These buildings are amazing works of architecture, especially considering that they were built in a place and time where they had no modern machinery to use in the building process.

The photo above is from the inside of the Milan Cathedral in Italy. It is the fifth largest cathedral in the world. This church took six centuries to complete. Six centuries! It is built in the Italian Gothic style and has a capacity of 40,000. She is 520 feet long, 302 feet wide and 354 feet tall. She also has 135 spires on the rooftop. Interestingly enough, the church facade was completed upon an order from a famous Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte. This cathedral has survived political turmoil and even the bombing of Milan during World War II.

Some people love this cathedral, for it's grandeur. For it's over the top design. Some people hate it for the same reasons. I however, had the same reaction I have to every cathedral I step into. I was awestruck!

So, I have a question for you today. What leaves you awestruck? What inspires a sense of wonder? In this very cynical day and age, an age where we have more information available to us than we possibly have time to read or absorb, does anything leave you in awe?

Being awestruck is something I think we should all seek out once and a while. For me, being awestruck is a combination of being filled with wonder, gratitude,and a sense of humility. Those moments of awe remind me of how small I really am, in the big scheme of things. It reminds me to be grateful for my life. These moments bring a sense of reverence to my life that I don't have in the little everyday moments. And the awestruck moments I experience in these amazing cathedrals do what they were intended to do; that is to remind me of how big my God is. How everlasting, ever loving, ever present, never changing He is. And when I slow down enough to feel all of that, I am awestruck.

This scripture from Psalms captures some of what I feel, standing there:

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you care for him? " Psalm 8:3-4

As we start the Holiday Season, take some time to be awestruck. Leave some time for wonder. Look for those little moments that make you feel small, grateful, and full of wonder. That's what this season is meant to inspire, a sense of awe that God would give up what He held most dear in order to show a weary world how much He loved them. Be awestruck today that you are deeply loved!

I'll leave you with a few more photos of some of my favorite cathedrals. Happy Thanksgiving!