Sometimes we forget that everything starts with a dream, a vision of something that is not yet reality.
But what sane person would stand before a mountain of granite and imagine that he could hammer it, beat it or blast it into this grandeur?
Gutzon Borglum, that's who. A man who didn't give up on his dream. This vision became a burning passion that took over his life.
We visited Mount Rushmore National Park when our girls were growing up. The stunning blue sky you see here, along with eagles circling, provided a magnificent backdrop. We stood there transfixed.
Before us were these four faces, each one 60 ft. high. It seemed we could look into the eyes of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. What's more, it was as if their eyes followed us when we walked from one side to the other. We stood there a long time, asking over and over, "How on earth did they do that?"
"They" wouldn't have done any of it without one man and his "crazy dream."
Borglum made it happen. He was 60 years old in 1927, when he drilled the first holes. Over the next 14 years he and 400 other men blasted away and chipped away more than 450,0000 tons of granite. One exhausting day followed another.
In October, 1941, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was officially declared done. Borglum had died of an embolism six months earlier.
Some of us have a tired old dream we've been chasing around for years. By now we've convinced ourselves our mountain is way too big. We have no chance. Besides, it's too late.
Maybe we've said, "But that will take ___ years. if I start now, I'll be ___ years old by the time I'm finished."
We can't let that question lie there as fact. The obvious answer is another question. "How old will I be in ___ years if I don't do it?"
If that's where you are, you'll cherish this promise of God as I do.
As your days, so shall your strength be. --Deuteronomy 33:25b (RSV)
Question for you: What's your dream?
Here's to counting on God to bring us through,
Lenore
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