Absence
If you hunt or fish long enough there will come times you must give up your passion for other things. I can remember years ago opening a business during hunting season. The timing of the opening was not optional. You can imagine how often I got to hunt that year. Absence did make the heart grow fonder. Another year was nearly the same. I was trying to finish a master’s degree. That, along with all the other things in life, made it late into the year before I was able to get in a tree stand. I tried to make up for lost time, but I missed much of the season. Sometimes a season of not hunting becomes a long period of not hunting. I know when my children were young, most of my time was taken up going from one ball game to another. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Many hunters are now former hunters because they encountered one of these times where they had to put hunting on the back burner for a season, and they never came back. They got used to the absence. I’m glad after raising my children, and after businesses and books, I still want to get back to the water and the woods.
There are times in our lives we are tempted to let other things take priority over our spiritual life as well. These times usually come when something has drawn us away for a period of time. Many times, the things that have drawn us away were not bad. It may be you had to sit with a sick child or a terminally ill mother. These may have kept you from attending a weekend gathering or from other spiritual activities. The first thing you need to know is God understands and He wants you to know the circumstances you are in are not designed to hinder your growth, but to enhance it. And even though it may seem you are unable to do the things you used to do, God will never leave you. He will make a way. One day, things may be back to some normalcy. When that happens, don’t get used to the absence of the things you once had to leave. Their importance has not diminished. In fact, it was their value that carried you through.
Gary Miller
gary@outdoortruths.org