My wife, children and I traversed five states on a grand adventure earlier this month – thanks to a gift from some family members. Contentedly, we meandered through Grand Teton National Park and then through Yellowstone National Park, keeping our eyes peeled for bears, moose, foxes, coyotes, bald eagles, bison and antelope.
We loved seeing such beautiful wildlife against the backdrop of mountains, streams and waterfalls. Eager to suck the marrow out of life, my son even delighted in every caterpillar and chipmunk he saw in the wilds of Wyoming and Montana.
From Yellowstone, we drove through the Black Hills of South Dakota to visit Mount Rushmore. As the sun set behind the presidential monument, we reflected gratefully on the freedoms handed down to us during the nearly 250 years of our nation’s history.
Of the four presidents memorialized by Mount Rushmore, I’m especially fascinated by Teddy Roosevelt – perhaps, because a high school history teacher many years ago shared about his life and times with passion and verve.
Overcoming childhood frailty, Roosevelt aimed to be a “doer of deeds,” striving to live out his own, famous words:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” Roosevelt said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Roosevelt’s example and words remind me, in a sense, of Christ’s “Parable of the Talents” (Matt 25:14-30). They inspire me to put aside timidity, to strive valiantly and invest my “talents” – that is, everything I am, do and have – for the Lord’s greater glory and the growth of His kingdom.
From the Black Hills, we then drove east through the Badlands and, finally, to De Smet, South Dakota, and to the homestead where 20th-century author Laura Ingalls Wilder – of “Little House on the Prairie” fame – lived with her family during childhood. (Laura later moved to Mansfield, Mo., where she wrote her books.)
In late 1880 and early 1881, the Ingalls family endured a long and difficult winter in De Smet, with little food and little fuel for the fire. Nevertheless, they learned that winter not to focus on what they lacked, but to appreciate the simple things of life that they had.
Out of such experiences in life, Laura later wrote, “As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful.
“They are the things,” she added, “that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness – just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
After our visit to De Smet, we drove home to Missouri, with our minds and imaginations full of the sights and sounds of the northern mountains and plains. But I also brought home with me lessons in contentment – lessons from my children, from Teddy Roosevelt and from the Ingalls family.
Contentment, as G.K. Chesterton once wrote, isn’t merely the decision to “do without” or to quietly suffer through whatever bitter lot we’re faced with. Instead, he said, “It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it.” It is delighting in a caterpillar and chipmunks, as much as in bison and bears. It is striving valiantly in the face of success and failure. It is fully appreciating the simple, everyday blessings, no matter what season of life we’re living through.
Above all, contentment means finding ultimate joy and satisfaction in Christ Jesus, no matter the circumstances – saying, with the apostle Paul, that we can do all things and endure all things through Christ, who is our life and strength (Phil 1:21, 4:10-13).
