Outdoor Truths: Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ Oct 17th

Gary Miller ~ outdoortruths.org

Outdoor Truths: Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ Oct 17th
While deer hunting is fun and can be successful during anytime of the season, there is really one brief period that every hunter looks forward to; the rut. It’s that time of year when bucks are the most active and when they are the most likely to be roaming around all throughout the day. Not only do we hunters look forward to that phase of deer hunting like no other, it is also the period we spend the most time planning for. If one includes the days of pre-rut activity, this whole phase only lasts about three weeks. That’s not a long time when you consider the length of the season and the amount of time that most people can actually be in the woods. Only T.V personalities can spend twenty straight days hunting deer. The rest of us want to keep our wives and remember the names of our children.
I have found over the years that I tend to start the hunting season thinking each day could be my last. My wayward mind convinces me that today is the day when that big buck is going to come by. And if not today, then tomorrow. So I must be in the tree stand every day. The results have been two-fold. First, I let hunting control me instead of controlling my hunting. And secondly, I tire out before the rut arrives. There is actually a third result as well. I run out of days that I can hunt. None of these are good so thankfully I eventually learned that if I am going to be able to give those three weeks my best effort, I have to limit my time in the woods now, continue to prepare for the upcoming rut, and be ready when it hits. It is all about maximizing this most productive time.
As I pondered this lesson, I realized that my days on this earth are made up of periods where I am to be the most productive. There are days of planning and there are days of readjusting, but there are short spans interspersed throughout life that are meant to be moments where God gets the most out of me. Some would only believe these days to be when we are of a certain age, preferably in the young adult years when our get-up-and-go is at its highest. Others would think our most productive time is when we have achieved a sense of security and are able to enjoy the fruit of our labors. But the truth is, our most productive times are scattered throughout our lives. They are not determined by the dynamics of our own lives, but by the lives of those who God places in it. This means that no matter if we are young, old, or somewhere in-between; we can be productive if we will simply make ourselves available to God as instruments to be used in the lives of others.