Sometimes we forget that everything starts with a dream, something that's not yet reality.
Still, what sane person would stand before this expanse of granite and imagine that he could hammer it, beat it or blast it into this magnificence?
(To get an idea of the scale, take a look at those pine trees--they're not seedlings--at the bottom.)
That man was Gutzon Borglum. People calling him a fool--and worse--didn't stop him. Neither did the howling winds, thunderstorms, rain, frigid temperatures or blizzards of South Dakota.
Borglum simply refused to give up on his dream. His vision for that enormous expanse of granite became a burning passion that took over his life.
We visited Mount Rushmore National Park years ago, when our girls were growing up
To flat-landers from Illinois the stunning blue sky and eagles circling above us were a marvel on their own. 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 and his determination made it happen. It's that simple.
Yet he was 60 years old when it all began in 1927, when he drilled the first holes.
For 14 years he and 400 other men blasted away and chipped away more than 450,0000 tons of granite. One exhausting day followed another.
Yet they kept on. Finally, in October, 1941, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was officially declared done.
Borglum had died of an embolism six months earlier, so his family and others who believed in his dream finished the job.
What's your dream?
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, by the time I finish I'll be ___ years old."
Find your obvious answer in another question. "How old will I be in ___ years if I don't do it?"
At any age, cherish this promise of God as I do.
As your days, so shall your strength be. --Deuteronomy 33:25b RSV
Maybe it's not too late
Here are five people who got a late start. Why not you?
- Andrea Bocelli was told he was "too old" to sing at age 48, but he started singing anyway.
- Susan Boyle, an unknown woman from a very small town, made it on "Britain's Got Talent" at age 48 and wowed everyone. You know the rest of her story.
- Julia Child didn't start cooking until age 40 and began her long-running PBS cooking show at age 51.
- Harlan Sanders had a couple of other careers before he founded Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 65.
- Grandma Moses never picked up a paintbrush until she was 75--and never took a lesson, yet she became famous.
If not now, when?
It doesn't matter whether your dream is as big as Mount Rushmore or as small as mastering the perfect batch of fudge.
What matters is that we don't assume we're licked before we start just because we didn't start years ago.
Goals and dreams give us a reason to keep going. As for strength to persevere, only one source never gives out. As the Apostle Paul puts it:
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. --Philippians 4:13
Gutzon Borglum refused to give up his "crazy dream" and so we have this national treasure, Mount Rushmore.
Who knows what you and I may yet do or how we may bless the world?
As someone put it, "If you woke up this morning it's a sign God still has something for you to do on this earth."
Let's keep our eyes open and be ready to try something new. And let's get going!
Learning, too,
Lenore
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