GRATITUDE

The other day I was watching my young son playing indoor baseball. He pitched in the game and did well. He had a nice hit into right center field. He fielded the ball well. Most of all, he had fun. It gave me great pleasure to watch him succeed, to do well and to give himself fully to the moment he was in. As his father, my focus centered on my son, but I glanced around at the other parents in the bleachers. Many of them watched their sons with that same raptured stare that I figured was on my face at times. It gave us great pleasure to watch our children because we love them. Because we are their dads and moms.

                So what does this have to do with hunting or with God? Well, a few days later, I found myself sitting in the frigid wind waiting for a deer to walk by. I was shivering and wiggling my toes trying to keep them warm when I thought about my boy playing ball. I thought about how I enjoyed that moment almost as much as he did simply because he was my child.  I had also seen him miss a few pitches and swing at a high ball and I saw the disappointment on his face when he made a bad throw to first. In those moments, I felt for him. It’s just baseball isn’t it? I’m not sure it is.

                As I sat there waiting, hoping that a buck might slip into the open I wondered or maybe realized God was watching me with a father’s love in a similar way in which we watch our children. I wondered if he allowed me to be a dad so I could get a tiny glimpse of how He felt about me. Baseball matters. Hunting matters. Every moment matters because God is watching us with pure love. He wants us to live in the moment. He feels our disappointment. His love aches when we hurt ourselves with sin. For a moment, I felt a deep sense of regret for the too many times I had disappointed Our Father. Then, I realized that He still loved me, the way I would love my child no matter what. I realized that to know you are loved is to know peace.

                I did not see a deer that day, but I realized how grateful I should have been for the moment. How grateful we should be for each moment. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for my family. I am grateful that Our Father loves us in every moment. I am grateful He loves us so much that He gave His only Son, that He gave Himself. I am grateful that love requires sacrifice, because it is in sacrifices big and small that we can begin to discover how much we are really loved.


Happy Thanksgiving