The Simple Gifts of Glacier National Park

I am blessed to live within a 30-minute drive of Glacier National Park. Added to that is the blessing of the larger community of humanity that makes up this area.

Each December, with lots of help from some good friends and volunteers, I produce a Christmas concert for the community that we call The Spirit of Christmas Concert. There’s more information about it in my blog post Spirit of Christmas: Giving is About the Giver. The financial beneficiary of the concert in recent years has been Flathead CASA for Kids; a non-profit organization of court appointed volunteers who advocate for children who have been removed from their homes due to allegations of abuse and neglect.

This year’s concert returned countless blessings to me. We were able to raise some significant funding for CASA (well over $11,000, and about to top $12,000 by recent accounting) illustrating the spirit of giving is alive and well, a fruit of the compassion people have for one another. It was a gift to me to be able make music with some of the musicians in this area, and there is no shortage of musical talent in western Montana. The concert  was a wonderful evening all the way around. One of the elements included in this year’s concert involved one of my favorite songs: “Simple Gifts”. I paired the song with some beautiful photos of Glacier National Park, which were displayed on the large screen as I played.

I am deeply grateful to friend and photographer Chris Peterson for letting us weave some of his photos of Glacier NP into this year’s Spirit of Christmas Concert. Chris is the editor of Glacier Park Magazine and is a very talented photographer. As soon as I viewed the photos he provided, a few weeks back, the song “Simple Gifts” began playing in my mind. My friend Jamie said that piece in the concert was a reminder “that the simple gifts we all share are truly the greatest blessings we have.” Here’s how it turned out:

I hope you receive the gifts of God’s creation as expressed through Chris’ photos and the language of music.

Grace and peace -
Dave

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