December 18, 2008 (THU)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

 

And [the angel] showed me a river of The Water Of Life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Rev. 22:1.

The Kaufmann family got to experience a little bit of heaven on earth. They wanted a simple summer weekend cottage by their favorite stream called Bear Run, some 70 miles southeast of Rittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Edgar J. Kaufmann family and their employees to get away from the city and spend time embraced in quiet nature. The family in particular  enjoyed  picnicking beside a 20-foot waterfall that sang its tireless song throughout the beautiful wooded area.


To build a unique weekend home beside this waterfall, Edger Kaufmann engaged the noted, but mostly unemployed, 67-year-old architect Frank Lloyd Wright from wisconsin. What he got instead was a masterpiece, aptly named "Fallingwater."


It seems that Wright was always  long on vision but short  on money and execution. After several months of delay Kaufmann informed Wright that he would be driving form Milwaukee to the architect's studio in order to see plans for the house. Wright's apprentices afterward noted that the client's imminent arrival did not seem to bother their noted teacher at all. With topological map in hand, he made some preliminary sketches and warmly greeted Kaufmann.


After Wright explained how the house would be cantilevered over the waterfall, the very pragmatic Kaufmann remarked, "I thought that you would place the house near the waterfall, not over it." To this Mr. Wright replied, "E.J., I want you to live with the waterfall, not just look at it. I want it to become an integral part of your lives."

An integral part indeed. The house, with its strong horizontal lines, juts out from the rock outcroppings and comes to rest directly over the falling water. Whereas the visual effect of a house stretched over a descending stream is most dramatic the sound of the water naturally and continually reverberating through the home is a wonder to hear.


Fallingwater is considered architecture because it is not just a cabin by a stream. The sound and sight of the living stream transform the entire structure. Likewise, the Master Architect wants to transform our lives with the living water of His Word. Like Fallingwater we can choose to structure our lives so that the Word is our constant companion filling our existence with its sights and sounds. Move next to the Water. Let it become an integral part of your life. It will be a foretaste of heaven.


Lord, let me attentive to the living Water You  have prepared for me today. I want my life to be a living reflection of Your ways to all who meet me. 

The fasting which the word of God enjoins is something more than a form. It does not consist merely in refusing food, in wearing sackcloth, in sprinkling ashes upon the head. He who fasts in real sorrow for sin will never court display(MB 87).