Thankful for the Grandeur

Quick Watercolor Sketch

God's Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed.  Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell:  the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward springs---

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah!  bright wings.

---Gerard Manley Hopkins

1844 - 1889

For all the wonderful grandness of creation I am thankful!  To be out sketching in nature with deer slipping across your path or eagles soaring in the heavens is a pure delight.  I am grateful to the great Creator God for all these experiences. May you bring a heart full of thanks to this Thanksgiving holiday!

Live bravely and beautifully!

Ninety Years

"Roses for Mom"

Pen and colored pencil

Today is the birthday of my mother, Mary Bell Whitbeck.  She turned ninety.  At this point in life, I admire anyone who achieves this milestone.  Think of all the life that has been lived, all the ups and downs, hardships, beautiful moments, and many ordinary days that encapsulate a long life.  My mom had a very eventful early life that many would never dream of experiencing.  As a teenage girl of fourteen years during WWII, she was returning with my grandmother and uncle from West Africa to the United States.  En route, their ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk in less than two minutes.  They were among the few survivors and floated aimlessly for weeks on the Atlantic Ocean in a small life raft with 19 others until a very dramatic rescue.  Books have been written about it, one of which is my Uncle Robert Bell's account, "In Peril On the Sea".  As I look back over my family's history, I see indications of God's faithful involvement throughout.  Because of that, I am here to write about it today.  My mom has been through and suffered much.  These pink roses are a tribute to her...pink being her favorite color.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

An Evening Landscape

The artist of creation

Revealed his work to men

(The sun lay down till morning

All knew he'd rise again).

The clouds that covered heaven

A perfect canvas made

And as the painter touched them

They changed from shade to shade.

One watching down below them

Would almost gasp with joy

As colour after colour

The artist would employ.

Then suddenly it ended

And evening lost its light

While thanks to God ascended,

The artist said good night.

---Elroy Roffe

(My mother's uncle)

Live bravely and beautifully!

Labor Day Weekend

Quick sketch of Table Mountain near Mt. Baker

This weekend I took a break from a back-to-school schedule full of lesson plans and preparations to squeeze in a few minutes to sketch.  This setting is in the beautiful Pacific Northwest Cascades about an hour from home.  Anyone care to hike that trail crossing the rocky scree of Table Mountain?  What an inspiring view you'd enjoy!  

There is a Pleasure in the Pathless Woods

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:

I love not Man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, in which I steal

From all I may be, or have been before,

To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

---George Gordon, Lord Byron

(1788-1824)

Live bravely and beautifully!

Leave the Routine Road

Pen and colored pencil sketch-Bellingham Bay

Lately I read the Robert Frost poem "Unharvested".  In it he used a phrase that struck a chord with me.  It was written like this:

A scent of ripeness from over a wall.

And come to leave the routine road

And look for what had made me stall, 

There sure enough was an apple tree

That had eased itself of its summer load...

We all struggle with keeping a balance in life between the tyranny of the urgent and the daily round of doing chores, going to work, and keeping life organized.  And keeping a schedule keeps chaos at bay.  But at the same time, we can get so stuck in that cycle that we forget to notice the unusual or any oddity that presents itself.  We don't nourish our curiosity by pursuing the quest to find out things.  If you are around small children any, you will be bombarded by lots of "Whys" about things.  Somehow in the growing up process, we forget to ask why or how or what.

Keeping an inquisitive mind takes effort.  Digital technology bombards us with the constant text message or Facebook notification.  We can walk past people and never look up from our device to notice them.  Noticing things is a part of being fully alive and engaged with the world.  It keeps us focused on where our feet are...on what is happening in our environment.  Giving yourself permission to leave the routine road on occasion opens up new possibilities and opportunities.  Life becomes more of a fascinating adventure.  I love the poem by Sara Teasdale about the things in life to see and hear and feel and smell, that can't be bought with money:

Barter

Life has loveliness to sell,

All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And children's faces looking up

Holding wonder like a cup.

Live has loveliness to sell,

Music like a curve of gold,

Scent of pine trees in the rain,

Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

And for your spirit's still delight,

Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,

Buy it and never count the cost;

For one white singing hour of peace

Count many a year of strife well lost,

And for a breath of ecstasy

Give all you have been, or could be.

I like what King Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs that encourages us to be on a life-long quest for gaining wisdom and understanding in life.  He urges one to "cry out for insight, to ask for understanding, to search for them like silver, to seek them like hidden treasures."  Those are vivid action verbs expressing a yearning and deep, down desire to learn and gain wisdom.  This life is so full of amazing, fascinating things.  Above all the possible subjects to study, the first and best place to start is with the foundation, which King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said was with the Creator God of the universe.  This is where true knowledge begins.  It's where God unlocks His heart to us and makes us wise and alive to all the rest of this fabulous creation we live in.  So leave the routine road, get curious again, and enjoy the adventure of being a life-long learner!

Leaving the routine road in the Pacific Cascades

Live bravely and beautifully!

Adventure Awaits!

(Woodburned house sign on old pine)

Have you had an adventure lately?  Do you live an adventurous life?  I like what Helen Keller said about the topic:  "Life is either a great adventure or nothing."  Not much squirm room for gray area there.  G.K. Chesterton provides an interesting perspective on the subject:  "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."  Apply that to your next vexing circumstance!

One of America's most adventurous presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, gave this commentary about an adventurous person:  "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

Being a creative person as an artist puts one on the route of an adventurous life. It is risky and takes courage to create art.   I like what filmmaker Godfrey Reggio said about the process:  "A life of creativity is a life of risk.  It is a life going beyond your ordinary, or embracing the odyssey, of leaving your familiar, of trying to make a contribution."

(Small watercolor study of Medicine Bow Peak, WY)

What is an adventure?  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as "an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks, or an exciting and remarkable experience."

Does that appeal to you?  A number of years back I read to my four children the amazing account of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 epic attempt to cross the Antarctic overland with his crew.  How would you respond to a Want Ad like this?!

"MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS.

- SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON"

You can read more about this heroic, gripping, suspenseful tale in the book Endurance:  Shackleton's Incredible Voyage.  

What makes people take risks and dare boldly?  What takes people to the top of the world's highest mountains, on treks across the Sahara, or on solo crossings of an ocean?  What is it that drives a human being to endure extreme conditions, to leave one's comfort zone, and risk daringly? 

(Small watercolor study of Mt. Whitney, CA)

Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Paul Tournier wrote that there is a need for adventure in the heart of man.  He goes on to say "that the majority of broken lives that we see seem to be suffering from the fact that this need has been repressed and is gnawing away inside...their lives remain fossilized, as it were, in conventionally mediocre patterns." The antidote to mediocrity in life is responding to a life of faith lived in God.  Seeking after God is the most wonderful adventure of a lifetime.  As Dr. Tournier expresses, "it takes all those who commit themselves to it much farther than they expect.  It is the source of an ever-buoyant enthusiasm."  I like how St. Augustine of Hippo put it:  "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement."

So....what's holding you back?  Adventure awaits!

"The Road goes ever 

On and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow,

If I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way."

---J.R.R. Tolkein

Live bravely and beautifully!

A River Runs Through It

(Quick watercolor sketch of Sumas River, BC)

Rivers are captivating elements of landscape.  These natural flowing watercourses move along at a constant pace, taking your gaze across the surface with it.  Here and there a rock or broken tree limb may punctuate the tranquil procession.  One senses motion and not stagnation around a river.  Abundant lush vegetation along the banks testify to the power of water in plant growth.  Beauty and serenity are experienced in a river setting.  Nourishment abounds to plant and animal alike.  A river can provide transportation to another place.  

Mankind has been enamored with rivers through the ages.  Rivers have been written of in poems and songs.  Artists have included their magic in landscape paintings.  Movies have featured them.  Communities are built around them.  Life thrives around a river.

Columbia River, Wenatchee, WA

We also thrive when we choose ways for richness and depth to flow like a river into our lives. Taking time to read substantive books, to look at meaningful art, to listen to great music,  to spend time in thoughtful conversations, and to be regularly in nature cultivates our souls.  The frenetic schedules many of us maintain shrivel our well-being and reduce daily life to just covering the bases.  King David wrote that "all our busy rushing ends in nothing (Psa. 39:6).  Such a life is not attractive but diminishing.  We have nothing to give out of the overflow because there is not much inflow.  We need time for reflection and evaluation.  Life is meant to be lived fully and grandly, not on the run. I like what French psychiatrist Dr. Paul Tournier wrote:  "God likes life; he invented it.  It is to the full flowering of life that he calls and leads us."  And I also find directive wisdom from the words of King David regarding the importance of having our souls planted by the riverbank which is God's Word.  That's where true thriving occurs! Here are his words from Psalm 1:

Oh, the joys of those who do not 

follow the advice of the wicked, 

or stand around with sinners,

or join in with mockers.

But they delight in the law of the LORD,

meditating on it day and night.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither,

and they prosper in all they do.

You can find another beautiful word picture of a river in Psalm 36 where King David again writes:  

How precious is Your unfailing love, O God!

All humanity finds shelter

in the shadow of Your wings.

You feed them from the abundance of Your own house,

Letting them drink  from Your river of delights.

For You are the fountain of life,

the light by which we see.

Live bravely and beautifully!

The Bear/Bare Necessities

(Small watercolor study)

All living things require some basic essentials in order to survive from day to day.  Boiling down a bear's requirements will lead you to basically two things they need.  One is food. That's not surprising! For a bear, eating is serious business. What kinds of foods make up a bear's menu?  Contrary to Goldilocks' findings, bears enjoy berries, roots, and grasses. They will dig for rodents, eat ants, grubs, other insects, and sometimes meat from a winter-kill animal, fish, or larger mammals.  

The other necessity for bears is shelter for the winter.  From the fall to mid-April a bear usually stays in hibernation.  It may dig a den in a hillside, under tree roots, or stay in natural caves.  During this period, their heart, breathing, and body temps lower to conserve energy. This enables them to survive the long winter period without eating.

"More Than You Can Bear"

8" x 10"

Acrylic

Food and shelter...the bare necessities in life.  Bare necessities are what you would consider as just sufficient resources.  They are what is absolutely necessary, with nothing to spare. As humans, we also need nourishment and shelter.  So much information is available to inform one on how to eat healthy.  Many of us endeavor to make wise choices in our diet. But I want to encourage you to not neglect the feeding of your mind and heart, as well.  Never stop learning!  If you stop learning, you are dying inside.  Read widely and read deeply. A favorite quote of mine is by Benjamin Disraeli:

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think."  

Joseph Addison also made a similar statement in the 18th century:

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."

So....what are some great books that you have read in the past year?  Are you currently reading one?  Gene Edward Veith wrote that "the wielders of influence will always be those who read and write".  Readers are leaders!  Gladys Hunt has written in her book, Honey for a Woman's Heart, that "reading makes one bigger on the inside...reading helps one feel life...it is a window into reality...it takes us beyond ourselves."  Reading is an absolute necessity if you are going to grow in understanding life and contribute to other's lives.

As shelter was a necessity for bears, so it is for us.  Beyond our physical dwelling places, a place of safety and nurture is required for our souls.  Where do you turn when encountering life's overwhelming problems?  King David wrote in a variety of his Psalms verses like these:

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from Him.

He alone is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;

He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

---Psalm 62:5-7

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and

my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.' "

---Psalm 91:1,2

So as you head out into this summer, don't forget the bare necessities.  Take along a great book.  Read to nurture your soul.  And be sure of your shelter.  What anchors your life? Think carefully about that.  And keep an eye out for those bears going about their serious business foraging in those mountain berry patches!

Live bravely and beautifully!

A Father's Love

(Small watercolor study of Medicine Bow Peak, WY)

This coming weekend our thoughts rove to our fathers and their significant role in our lives.  For many, it conjures up fond memories and loving moments. For others, it brings pain and grief for a variety of reasons.  We live in a fallen world where every relationship is affected and no one is perfect.  

A father plays an enormous part in the formation of a child's character and personality.  Certain aspects of training in our lives only a dad can fulfill adequately.  When those are absent, we feel a void and attempt to compensate for them in other ways.  

(Dad with Mom and my youngest sister)

One trait that fathers contribute enormously to their children's development is confidence. When a father speaks an encouraging word, it's like having the sun and moon stand still for a moment.  A father's support can take you a long way over life's bumpy path.  A dad's steady uplifting influence helps instill a child with inner strength to deal with the struggles and difficulties being alive brings.

 

(Dad with Marine Corps buddy)

My own father was that kind of dad to me.  He encouraged me greatly by his own personal example and involvement in my life.  His love was sacrificial in many ways.  He has spent many hours fixing my bicycle flat tires or under the hood of my car.  Dad played ball with us kids, took us hiking, taught me in church, showed me how to build with wood and tools, read stories to us at night, and spent plenty of time having good conversations with me.  My dad gave me the strongest sense I have of God as my heavenly Father.  Dad was a competitive weightlifter and very strong.  I vividly remember being on his powerful shoulders while a little girl as he walked out into the rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean.  I was clutching his forehead in desperation, fearing that I was going to drown.  Dad's strong hands had a hold of my little arms and he spoke very reassuringly, "Don't worry, Bonnie, I've got a hold of you!"  I will never forget that moment.  It was as if God was telling me that.  In a way He was, through my own father.  So many times in life when I have faced an unnerving situation, those words  have come to the foreground of my thoughts to remind me that God has everything in control.     

No matter what kind of father you may have had growing up, there is one Father who has it all together.  His love is unfailing and he never abandons you. I love the story Jesus told about the prodigal son and his father's response upon the son's return.  What does it tell us about our Father God?  Several things:

1.  God yearns and longs for a relationship with us.

2.  God pulls out all the stops when we come to Him.  He is delighted to have friendship with us!  As John 3:16 says, God gave His very own Son to provide a way for us to become His children.

3.  God is tender and compassionate, full of mercy and love.  King David wrote in Psalm 103:13,14:  "The LORD is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.  For He knows how weak we are;  He remembers that we are only dust."

If you had a good father to encourage you growing up, give plenty of thanks! But most of all, just know that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you and has given His best through His Son Jesus Christ to enable you to experience that love!

(My dad at Niagara Falls)

Live bravely and beautifully!

How a Stone Can Affect Your Life

"On the Rocks"

9" x 12"

Oil

Stones are a common occurrence in our daily lives.  We step on them, decorate with them, build with them, carve on them, climb on them, and yes....sometimes we stumble over them. 

Stones have had a powerful effect throughout history. Stones can kill. One process used in killing a person was by a group surrounding a victim and hurling stones at them until they died.  Stones can demolish.   Look at the destruction of a rock slide on a mountain highway.  Stones can be mountains.  They can create obstacles in our path.  

Stones have been used as markers for milestones, for property boundaries, as gravestones, or to commemorate events.  As stepping stones, they have provided thoroughfares.  Architecture has used stones for both foundations and structures.  Artists have used stone in carving monuments, for jewelry, or for sculpture.  Stones have even been used in worship.

 Here's a powerful quote that captures two basic choices we can take in dealing with the stones in our lives: 

"The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them."

A lot depends on your perspective and choice in dealing with stones.  You can allow them to have a destructive influence in your life and derail flourishing, or you can choose to use the very same stone to result in moving forward and gaining growth in your life.  I value this quote by Brendan Case to that effect:

"The challenges that lie in our path do not only block our way;

by resisting us,

they give us the traction we need 

to move forward."

Some final but important thoughts about stones or rocks in our lives:  

1. God wants to be your Rock!  King David wrote in Psalm 62:1,2,6,7: 

"I wait quietly before God,

for my victory comes from Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will never be shaken...

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, 

for my hope is in Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will not be shaken.

My victory and honor come from God alone.

He is my refuge, a rock

where no enemy can reach me.

    God wants to be the anchor for your soul and your place of safety in this life.

2.  Jesus Christ wants to be the Cornerstone on which you build your life!  The        Apostle Peter wrote this about Christ in 1 Peter 2:6:

"As the Scriptures say,

'I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,

chosen for great honor,

and anyone who trusts in Him

will never be disgraced.' "

     What you choose to do with this Stone, Jesus Christ, will affect your life              forever!

Live bravely and beautifully!

Magic at the Edge of Land and Sea

(Watercolor pencil journal sketch)

There's magic at the edge where the sea meets land.  Something mesmerizing happens to your soul.  You are engulfed by the vast immensity of ocean.  Your perspective gets tweaked.  You feel small in the universe.  Something greater than your life exists.  You are made well aware of that fact.  And it's a good feeling.  You have a sense of things being restored to their proper place in what needs to dominate your thinking.

I must go down the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

---John Masefield

from "Sea Fever"

O LORD, what a variety of things You have made!

in wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of Your creatures.

Here is the ocean, vast and wide,

teeming with life of every kind, 

both large and small.

---Psalm 104:24,25

Live bravely and beautifully!

Swan Diving Tips

(Small watercolor study)

Summer time is fast approaching, bringing the sounds of splashes as divers of all ages jump off rocks or diving boards into deep water under the warm sun.  A significant comparison exists between an actual swan diving and a human performing a swan dive. If you've seen swans dive, all that occurs is their rear end raises up above water while their upper body disappears below the water surface.  A bit inelegant for such a beautiful bird.  But if you've watched Olympic divers executing breath-taking maneuvers and flawless entries into the water, you see a display of finesse, art, power, and supreme focus.  

For most of us, bobbing along with our heads under water and all else above is not in the category of difficult.  But when you witness the flawless execution of Olympic perfection in the human body, you are seeing a combination of certain elements that enable such beauty in form and movement.

What are those key elements?  They are persistence, practice, perfecting the fundamentals, keen awareness, and staying focused. Then those elements are repeated over and over again.  These key elements are not only necessary for an Olympic diver doing the swan dive, but for any one of us who desires to develop our lives in a flourishing trajectory that makes a difference for ourselves and others.

So step off that diving board or edge of the cliff.  Take a deep breath. And dive.  Again and again and again.  With persistence, improvement, awareness, and focus.  

          

The Apostle Paul encourages us to "Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress."  To "throw yourself" entails being in these things, practicing, advancing, growing, and exercising yourself in your tasks.  It is to be devoted and absorbed in them.  Beauty and grace will adorn your life, like an elegantly executed swan dive!

Live bravely and beautifully!

Exquisite and Precarious

"North Cascades"

9" x 12"

Watercolor study

On any given ordinary day, we get up, get ready for work, check cell phones and schedules, put the key in the ignition, and go about our daily lives per as usual.  All the while incredible works are going on without our thought or involvement.  The planets keep orbiting in precise alignment, our hearts beat, and all nature keeps up its intricate balance and activities.  

The Roman statesman and philosopher, Seneca, commented on all this phenomena:

"This swift revolution of the heavens, being ruled by eternal law, goes on unhindered,  producing so many things on land and sea, so many brilliant lights in the sky all shining in fixed array....Even the phenomena which seem irregular and undetermined---I mean showers and clouds, the stroke of crashing thunderbolts and the fires that belch from the riven peaks of mountains, tremors of the quaking ground....these, no matter how suddenly they occur, do not happen without reason."

(Scottsbluff, NE)

As huge and complicated as this universe may seem, it goes on with a regularity and order. When you stop to ponder this, it is truly amazing!  Biochemist Michael Denton observed:

"Earth's location, its size, its composition, its structure, its atmosphere, its temperature, its internal dynamics, and its many intricate cycles that are essential to life-----the carbon cycle, the oxygen cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, the sulfur cycle, the calcium cycle, the sodium cycle, and so on----testify to the degree to which our planet is exquisitely and precariously balanced."

(Tetons, WY)

Don't let the mundane, everyday plod of life diminish your awe and wonder at the beautiful and magnificent created world in which we are privileged to spend another day.  Notice and keep on looking for those moments and details that can awaken you to the grandness and beauty of life!  

"For the LORD is God, 

and He created the heavens and earth

and put everything in place.

He made the world to be lived in,

not to be a place of empty chaos.

'I am the LORD,' He says,

'and there is no other.' "

---Isaiah 45:18

Here's poetic challenge to that end from a stanza in William Blake's Auguries of Innocence:

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower, 

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

Live bravely and beautifully!

Patience or The Gentle Art of Fishing

"Jacob's Joy"

(Small watercolor study)

Patience is one of the hardest virtues for us to develop.  We want what we want when we want it...which is yesterday!  Our selfish predisposition finds it very trying to have to wait, continue to wait, and then wait even longer.  We don't like "hurry up and wait" situations. But time is one of the important ingredients in so many things...the aging of wine, cheese, growth of trees, gardens, and crops.  Time has the element of development in it.  The process is essential to the product or outcome. 

The sport of fishing provides opportunity for exercising patience.  You don't usually bait your hook, cast the line, and then immediately reel in the catch of the day.  Lots of factors go into a successful catch....time of day, weather, type of fish, type of insects hatching out, the type of rod and reel, color and size of lures, etc.  Fish don't plan on getting caught, so you have to be one step ahead of them in figuring out their habits and actions.  You often have to cast again and again before that successful setting of the hook and hauling in your desired catch. Many times there can be an ensuing fight from that fish that will wear you down until that creature finally ends up in your frying pan.

The daughter of Henry van Dyke, former Princeton professor, pastor and ambassador to Luxembourg, wrote this loving memory of fishing with her father:

"The best times of all, were the summer months when we left the hot, dusty city and went down to the little white cottage on the south shore of Long Island.  Here he first taught us the gentle art of fishing, and how well I remember the morning he spent showing us how to catch the minnows for bait in a mosquito net (for catching bait was always part of the game) and then how he stood with us for hours on the high drawbridge cross the channel, showing us the easy little twitch of the wrist that hooks the fish and how to take him off the hook and save the bait."

Fishing takes patience and so does life.  It demands that you show up to the page, the easel, the instrument, the gym or wherever you need to be to practice and work on your passion, to "move the ball" ahead in your life.  Stay in the chase.  Little by little progress is achieved.  

Here's a poem on time by Henry Van Dyke:

Time is

Too slow for those who Wait,

Too swift for those who Fear,

Too long for those who Grieve,

Too short for those who Rejoice;

But for those who Love

Time is

Eternity.

Live bravely and beautifully!