Choir Notes

Getting Up and Getting Going
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4231

What does it take to jump into something new and come out triumphant? Why do some embark into uncharted territory with ease while others flounder?

An answer may be found in studying the expedition of Lewis and Clark, who two centuries ago, with their Shoshone guide Sacajawea and 32 hearty men, set out to chart the vast wilderness of the new Louisiana Purchase. Though they never found what they were hoping for—a waterway to the Pacific—their mapping opened the door to a westward-growing nation. Near the end of the 8,000-mile journey, Captain Clark carved into a large pine tree a simple statement of the significance of their achievement: "Capt William Clark December 3rd 1805. By Land [from the United States] in 1804 & 1805.”[i]

Much of their heralded experience is recorded in countless journal entries describing unfamiliar flora and fauna, mountain vistas, raging rivers, and councils with Indian tribes. But more revealing about the experience are the daily entries that describe violent winds, rain flooding their camps, and horses that lost their footing on snow-covered trails. And still they pressed on. Lewis and Clark did not stage the expedition for today’s history books; they simply tackled the assignment before them—one day at a time.

It’s easy to forget that monumental accomplishments are made up of hundreds of mundane ones. True greatness comes in getting up and getting going every day. So when we face a new semester at school, a massive project, a career change, cleaning out the basement, or training for a marathon, we can apply what those explorers learned centuries ago. We can pit daily our determination, discipline, grit, and sense of duty against the debilitating emotions of fear, dread, confusion, and procrastination. That’s how Lewis and Clark crossed a continent. And that’s how we can cross ours.

i In "The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” entry dated Dec. 3, 1805,