On Father’s Day, what else can one talk about other than fathers? I talked with the fathers in my life today. The ones who came before me and the ones who come after me. I hope each one is having a wonderful day celebrating who they are in their roles as father. I hope my grandsons grow up to be tall, strong, and men of integrity because of their fathers.
From my Dad, I learned to appreciate finding the beauty of God in nature around me. I love to watch the birds fly, the quail with all their little quail-ettes trailing along behind them, the turkeys getting into formation even as they flee perceived danger to them, or the silly turkey tom who spread his feathers while his harem of hens crossed the road. Did he think he was protecting those five hens? What a sense of humor God must have!
The deer are majestic. One summer night, I sat on my porch in the dark and watched as two racks of horns suddenly appeared and crested the top of the hill my house sits on. They were propelled by two big handsome bucks. I froze as they sauntered across the yard in front of me and on around the house to greater foliage areas. I believe they must have been the two fawns that followed their Mama around the neighborhood the year before. I called them “the brothers”.
The bucks and the dark reminded me of the time when I was a small girl and my Dad took me hunting. On a cold, pre-dawn morning, we went north and it was still dark when we stopped to eat breakfast at a rustic restaurant. My younger sister and one of my Dad’s buddies went, too. I don’t remember doing much hunting. I do remember, a short while later, a campfire and two little girls cold feet being rubbed by two big men. If my Dad was frustrated that morning, I don’t remember it. I only remember that he took me with him.
He doesn’t hunt much these days anymore, but he still walks down the lane or sits on the patio of his home and watches the wildlife around him.
Appreciation of God’s handiwork is still sharper than ever.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” John 6:29b.
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