Climb That Mountain!

Sunday Gulch Trail Mountain

(Small watercolor study)

All my life in my family this mountain was referred to as The Cabin Mountain. Summers in my early childhood were happily spent playing at the Smith Cabin near the famous Mt. Rushmore.  The Smith family were dear friends of ours from Kadoka, South Dakota. Often our two families would be at the cabin together.  The beautiful Black Hills of western South Dakota provided the backdrop for awesome times together as family.

Dad

(Watercolor portrait by Marine artist friend Asante)

Dad would take my older brother Gordon and other teens hiking up to the top of this commanding mountain behind the Smith Cabin.  When I finally was old enough, my rite of passage to this mountain came.  I'll never forget being up on top and surveying miles of Black Hills country in every direction.  That was the first mountain I had the opportunity to climb.  Eventually I went on to climb other peaks, including Mt. Whitney in the Sierra Nevada of California and Long's Peak in the Colorado Rockies.  

(My dad doing a handstand with a fellow marine buddy.)

On this New Year's Day my dad will turn 91 years old, so I'm thinking many thoughts about his life and some things he has taught me.  One thing Dad taught me is to be a mountain climber.  I'm not talking about all the technical jargon and mountain expeditions to high peaks.  Instead, he taught me a way of looking at life and the challenges that come our way. He taught me the value of setting goals and working to accomplish them.  He was an encourager and confidence-builder.  Dad exhibited and modeled drive for me.  He knew about persistence!

(Sketch by fellow Marine Corps buddy Asante)

And that leads me to what my blog post title is about...Climb That Mountain!  This year will contain many challenges in our paths that need to be faced with persistence. Perhaps you are also setting some goals for your life that will need persistence to follow through long after the New Year's resolutions are made.  How will you be doing come March or July or October with those goals?  It takes this tremendous life quality to overcome challenges and reach goals.....PERSISTENCE!

Famous Star Wars actor Harrison Ford had this to say about what persistence looks like: 

I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up.  Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things.  If you simply didn't  give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.  Sometimes the only reason you get the job is that you're the only one left.  I didn't make a living acting until I was 35.  Tenacity is critical.

Getting there is all about the process and the process takes time.  Winston Churchill said:

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never---in nothing, great or small, large or petty---never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.

My dad modeled persistence for me in numerous ways.  Happy 91st birthday, Dad!

(Dad overlooking Niagara Falls)

Live bravely and beautifully!

Someday....More!

My art manager/manikin Michelangelo and his wildlife friends are all taking a moment this season to consider what most amazing Gift lay in the manger in Bethlehem so long ago! Here's a poem written by a favorite poet of mine...Ruth Bell Graham...she captures the essence of Christmas in it:

There will be less someday---

much less,

and there will be more:

less to distract

and amuse;

More, to adore;

less to burden

and confuse;

More, to undo

the cluttering of centuries,

that we might view

again, That which star

and angels

pointed to;

we shall be poorer---

and richer;

stripped---and free:

for always there will be a Gift,

always

a Tree!

---Ruth Bell Graham

(This is a piece titled "Adoration of the Shepherds" that was attributed to Rembrandt but since is thought to be a work of one of his students.)

Here's a carol of longing by The Piano Guys that deeply expresses our hearts' desire and hope for ourselves and the world...I love cello music!

Merry Christmas to you!

Live bravely and beautifully!

Animal Facts in the Nativity Story

"Leo the Lionhearted"

(Small watercolor study)

Being the wildlife artist and animal lover that I am, I have enjoyed through the years thinking about the animals that have been portrayed in famous artworks of Christ's birth and nativity scenes.  But on closer investigation, it may come as a shock to find out that the only animals that are mentioned in Christ's birth story were the sheep who were in the fields nearby Bethlehem. And according to Luke's account in Chapter 2, the shepherds had left them to go to the manger scene of Christ, because he reports that they went back to their flocks after seeing the newborn King in the manger.  

Tradition through the centuries has added the donkey, the cow, the camels and the sheep all centered around the Babe in the manger.  I don't object to that in one sense because I love animals.  And because it is a manger location, it is a possibility that animals were present. Being a dog lover, I could well imagine that there might have been a very well-trained sheep dog or two accompanying those shepherds.But those are assumptions and not facts.Sometimes traditions can become so familiar that it leads one to believe that they are part of the truth.  So just a word to the wise!

I know that all creation was invested in the Advent of Christ to the manger, because it ultimately meant the deliverance of all creation from death and decay.  The Bible talks about this in Romans 8:18-24:  

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.

For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are.  

Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse.  

But with eager hope, 

the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children

in glorious freedom

from death and decay.  

For we know that all creation

has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth

right up to the present time.

Christ Himself is referred to as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  God loves His creation and wonderfully it is the whole creation that will one day be free from all the suffering under which it is now subjected.  So enjoy the great art of the centuries that depict the animals at Christ's manger, or the donkey carrying the expectant Mary, or the camels transporting the wise men across the desert sands.  Just remember to keep facts at the core of your Christmas worship.  

 "Adoration of the Shepherds"

oil

by Rembrandt

Live bravely and beautifully!

Surprised By Joy!

(Small watercolor study of a bugling elk)

In the very familiar account of the birth of Jesus Christ, one group of the participants involved stands out to me.  The shepherds who were working the late night shift on the hillsides around Jerusalem resonate with me.  As author Walter Wangerin describes them, they were "the working stiffs" who were the unfortunate fellows to pull the night duty.  Yet it is precisely there, at that late hour and in that desolate place, that the quiet night sky burst into the equivalent of Handel's The Messiah performance with the mass angelic choir bursting with "Glory to God, glory to God, Glory to God in the Highest"!  

Can you imagine what on earth those shepherds' first responses/gut reactions were?!  What would yours have been?  When these sheep herders realized what was being sung and about Who it was being sung, it didn't take long for them to respond with the utmost joy!  Off they headed to see what and Who was in the manger at Bethlehem.  They didn't need a theological treatise to explain to them the essence of the angels' message.  They understood that God had come to rescue mankind from it's great dilemma by providing a Saviour in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.  That is pure wild joy!!!  That is what Christmas is all about!  

Enjoy this piece, "Glory to God" from Handel's "The Messiah" and imagine you are right there on those quiet hillsides outside Bethlehem with those shepherds when suddenly...:

Live bravely and beautifully!

Sailing into the Season

"The Pacific Northwest-Anacortes, WA"

(Small watercolor study)

The calendar declares today December 1st.  The Christmas season is here....ready or not.  Most of us would prefer the "ready" part.  This all implies that there is a need to prepare. The question follows...prepare for what?  Your answer reveals what your focus will be.  For some, it may be hitting all the malls and stores for good shopping deals, getting the long list of names on the Christmas list crossed off.  That makes me tired already.  For others, it may be attending the numerous concerts and parades.  For still others, it entails getting out the family recipes for great-grandmother's plum pudding or other generational dishes.  For some, it is selecting the Christmas tree, putting up all the decorations and hanging the lights.   

Those activities can all be enjoyed if attended to at a good pace and with time management. But I encourage you to get to the heart of "the what" it is for which you are getting "ready".  The bottom-line reason for this season and all its accompanying activities is to celebrate the first Advent of Christ 2,000 plus years ago in Bethlehem.   Many of us know that and would say that is our focus.  The difficulty comes in maintaining that as the foremost purpose of the season.  So much activity and lists of things to get done can rob us of the peace and joy that this historic event is meant to bring.  So I encourage you to be deliberate in your focus and intentional in preparing for your observance of Christmas.  One way is to celebrate Advent with daily readings in Scripture.  Books are available that provide readings and meditations. Another way is to immerse yourself in the rich, beautiful Christmas music.  One such source I enjoy is the classical King FM Christmas Channel from Seattle streaming online.  This channel plays only the beautiful and best of the Season's music, not the tinny jingles that have nothing to do with Christ's birth.  

Before the paling of the stars,

Before the winter morn,

Before the earliest cock-crow

Jesus Christ was born:

Born in a stable,

Cradled in a manger,

In the world His hands had made 

Born a stranger.

---Christina Rossetti

Here's a favorite Christmas carol of mine that brings a quiet hush to one in the midst of all the going's-on of this wonderful season:  

Live bravely and beautifully!