Match Your Mountain

"Ruth Mountain, Cascade Range"

(Small gouache study)

  Bring me men to match my mountains;
    Bring me men to match my plains, --
    Men with empires in their purpose,
    And new eras in their brains.
    Bring me men to match my praries,
    Men to match my inland seas,
    Men whose thought shall pave a highway
    Up to ampler destinies;

                                 ---Sam Walter Foss.

This piece of poetry comes from a larger poem Sam Walter Foss wrote called "The Coming American". It was a stirring description of America on the cusp of the frontier expansion westward.  The truth is that we all experience mountains in our lives that demand everything we've got and more.  It's "the more" part that can really cave us in.  The daunting challenges in our lives expose where our inadequacies exist. The gap between where we currently are and where we need to go can paralyze us into inaction or giving up.  But no great feat is ever attained except by going through the difficulties and incorporating them into the process of attaining a mountain's summit.  A statement by Brendan Case helps us to see this truth:

"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."

I love that old Aesop's Fable about the tortoise and the hare.  Who won the race in the end?  Yes, the tortoise!  How?  By staying in the race and not quitting.... one step at a time!  Slow and steady wins the race.  And that is how you match your mountain....step by step by step.  Thankfully we can have the Creator of the universe at our side, giving us strength, building our endurance, and providing the grace to be all we need to be in every step of the way.  He is the Maker of the mountains! Jesus Christ provides us with a most beautiful example of overcoming by His death on the cross and resurrection. We can follow His example of finishing what He came to do in dealing with the mountains in our lives.  

I love mountains and have enjoyed hiking to some of the great 14,000 plus ft. giants in America. Here's a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox to encourage you to match your mountain:

With Every Rising of the Sun

With every rising of the sun

Think of your life as just begun.

The past has shrived and buried deep

All yesterdays---there let them sleep....

Concern yourself with but today,

Woo it and teach it to obey,

Your wish and will.  Since time began

Today has been the friend of man....

You and today!  a soul sublime

And the great pregnant hour of time.

With God between to bind the twain---

Go forth I say----attain----attain.

Live bravely and beautifully!