A WOMAN'S VIEW ~ Lenore Buth

How big would you dream if you knew you could not fail?

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

Of music and hope and seeing the beauty in life . . . no matter what

I met the most amazing woman the other day. She unexpectedly dropped into my Email inbox and once she told her story, I couldn't forget it.

I think it's safe to say you won't forget her, either. For one thing, how often do you meet an individual who is age 106 and still plays Scrabble? Yes, you read that correctly. Alice Herz-Sommer is age 106. In fact, she turns 107 this month.

She is . . .  But why not let Alice tell her story in her own words? I encourage you to settle back in your chair and prepare to be entranced. If at the beginning you find her accent difficult, hang in there. After a few seconds you won't notice it. Now just click on the arrow and float away.

For all of us, sometimes life, with its obstacles and challenges and disappointments, seems discouraging, even overwhelming. From now on I'll only have to think of Alice to realize how blessed I've been--and still am.

Although Alice's story is unique, I think she has a message for all of us, for all time: Life is beautiful! 

Those three words apply, no matter what's going on in our lives. Let's have the good sense to really understand this now. It's as the Psalmist said, centuries ago:

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. --Psalm 118:24

Here's to "living it up" and making the most of every day,

Lenore

Question for you: How did Alice's story touch you?

(Late addtion: My apologies, but the (better) YouTube clip I originally included was suddenly "withdrawn by the user," whatever that means. It seems to be inaccessible from any site. So I'm including a new link here, from The Guardian in London. This one is not as long, but you can hear Alice speaking and also playing her piano. Onceit ends you'll notice other YouTube video thumbnails are shown, such as a two-part BBC TV interview. You can read Alice's story in print at  http://nickreedent.com/   which is the website of the maker of the soon-to-be-released documentary about Alice Herz-Sommer.

The secret of youth--and it doesn't come in a jar

What makes some people maintain that spunk and feisty spirit into old age? Is it a temperament they're born with or do they choose it?

I've wondered about that for years,. The other day I got an e-mail from a relative with a photo of my aunt, who lives in Minnesota. Aunt Elsie is my father's baby sister and the only one of those five siblings still living on earth.  

At age 101, she maintains the spirit and humor I always loved as a child. Now she lives in an assisted-living residence and walks with a walker. When someone commented she gets around very well, she said yes, she does. Then she smiled her old smile and said, "And I would dance, too, if I had a partner!"

That doesn't surprise me one bit. I haven't seen Aunt Elsie for years, but I always delighted in how she seemed to have fun wherever she was. I remember so well her laugh and her sparkling eyes. 

Yet that didn't flow out of getting all the breaks in life. She and her husband worked hard running their own business. Childless for many years, they adopted a daughter and shortly thereafter had three kids of their own. At age four their oldest boy received a brain injury as the result of another driver hitting him while he crossed the street. He came out of the coma, but never was the same, never able to keep up with his siblings.

But life went on and so did Aunt Elsie and Uncle Earl and the rest of the family. That catastrophe took awhile for all of them to take in and get used to. Mostly they coped.  They never doubted that God let their son live for a reason and they wouldn't look back. They suffered through all the usual emotions and grief, but they survived...and kept on believing, kept on loving.

These two lived through the usual ups and downs of rearing children to adulthood--and much more, besides. Aunt Elsie dealt with illnesses and the death of two husbands. But she never gave up. She lives on and laughs and jokes. 

All along the way, she had choices to make. Would she become a harpy? A bitter woman, angry at God, perpetually expecting disaster? And who would have blamed her if she had. 

But she didn't. She chose to go on believing that God loves her and her family, and watches over all of them. I'm betting she has read Psalm 139 over and over, sometimes looking for answers to her whys and sometimes soaking up reassurance.

Since my mom died before she reached age 55, I look at older women for role models of how to do it. I look at Aunt Elsie and all the others who choose to go on living with gusto and faith every day of their lives.

To me they're shining examples of the truth of Psalm 92:12, 14-15:

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree...They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, "The LORD is upright' he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."

Let's choose to be ageless...fresh and green every day of our lives!

Here's wishing you JOY in your journey through life,

Lenore

Your comments welcomed!