I have begun to read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. So far, I have read his Prologue. The book is very thick and it will take awhile for me to read. Sometimes I do not make it to the end of a book before I am distracted by the life of my family.
I do have an interest in church architecture, and I often marvel at the beauty of stained glass. The book’s cover is illustrated with church arches. This sent me searching for all the words associated with church architecture. To name a few: apse, nave, sanctuary, and vestibule. I enjoy learning new words, and the English language has a goldmine of them.
In my search I ran across examples of natural arches found around the world. Nature is frequently the inspiration of architects and engineers. They need to find ways to build that will be strong and stand tall against the ravages of weather and man.
Pillars, arches, and buttresses are architectural structures that are used both functionally and aesthetically to support the vast weight of stones and other building materials used in cathedral buildings.
This all seems more than fitting for buildings that represent a communities’ desire to foster communion and faith in a higher power. A higher power that can help to hold us all up in times of emotional need.
“And the Word is God.”
12/24/2023 Update: I was looking through my tree of thoughts (MovingForwardSlowly) here. I saw this post which seems like ages ago, and decided that I needed to put into this post the fact that I did indeed finish Ken Follett's book , Pillars of the Earth. It was an excellent book, and it profoundly impacted me. I realized how hard life was for these characters, and it gave me a renewed appreciation for all the ways that I have been blessed.
He has a new book out now in 12/23, and hopefully I will get the chance to read it.
movingforwardslowly 