What would you still dream if you had the courage?

Sometimes we forget that everything starts with a dream, with envisioning something that's not yet reality.

Still, what sane person would stand before an enormous expanse of rough granite mountain and imagine he could hammer it, beat it or blast it into what we now know as Mount Rushmore?  


Blog. Mt-Rushmore close up. 1.3.11  

(To get some idea of the scale, take a look at those pine trees--they're not seedlings--at the bottom of the photo.)

That man was Gutzon Borglum and he began this project in 1927. 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 until he drew his last breath in 1941.

We visited Mount Rushmore National Park years ago when our girls were growing up

To us flat-landers from Illinois the 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 seemed their eyes followed us when we walked from one side to the other. We spent a lot of time there, poring over the information booklet and 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"

Gutzon Borglum and his determination made it happen. It's that simple. And he was 60 years old when he drilled the first holes it in 1927.  

For the next 14 years he and 400 other men blasted away and chipped away an more than 450,0000 tons of granite from the face of the mountain. One exhausting day followed another.

Yet they kept on. Finally, in October, 1941, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was officially declared done.

Sad to say, Borglum died of an embolism six months before that. His son Lincoln Borglum headed the faithful group of other family members, craftsmen and laborers who brought the project to completion.

We have this national treasure, Mount Rushmore, because Gutzon Borglum refused to give up his "crazy dream". 

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?"

Here's a promise of God that we can cherish at any age: 

   As your days, so shall your strength be.  --Deuteronomy 33:25b

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 in Scotland, 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.

How about you? 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 you and I don't assume we're licked before we start, just because we didn't begin years ago. At any age and any stage of life, goals and dreams give us a reason to keep going.

As for strength to keep going, only one Source never gives out. Some of us know the truth of the words the Apostle Paul wrote because we have depended on this promise to get through a time we thought we had no strength left within us: 

 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.  --Philippians 4:13

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."

That "something" might sound small, such as aiming to be one of those people who cheers everybody up by simply speaking about what's good and hopeful. But first one has to look for what's good ....

Any of us could do better at that if we simply stayed mindful and made a bit of effort.  

Just remember that it is God who guides and enables and gives strength for each day to all who trust him and ask in faith.

Now let's be ready to get outside our personal comfort zone--and let's get going!

Working on it, too,  

Lenore


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