Here we are, Thanksgiving Week! You know what that means…Turkeys are on high alert, High School football teams strive to be playing this week, families are making plans to eat together on Thursday and in our family, Thanksgiving Day traditions will be lived out. Its a little more than turkey and football followed closely by an afternoon nap. One of those traditions, Cole and I started last year and we started a new one this year. Last year, we started going out to his great grandmother’s house to squirrel hunt. We get up early and head out for a little early morning together. This year, we just got back from going out to the deer lease to try to get him his first deer. Well, he was successful! He made a great shot on a doe from 80 yards with a .243 rifle.
As you can see, he is pretty happy. I know that this can be a little graphic for a blog photo, but, I wanted to share with you some things that I learned from my son while we were hunting. You see, about 3 years ago, we converted to eating venison for our meat at the McMahan house. Cole went hunting with me for the first time last year. It was all new to him. He slept in the blind while I kept watch and was totally excited to see the deer when I woke him up…aka…disrupted his prayer time. One thing that we do every trip we make is have devotions at camp and prayers in the blind. Cole had two goals for this hunting season…he wanted to kill a deer for our family to eat and a turkey for Thanksgiving. He got the deer. One of the verses that we read at the camp this past weekend is found in 1 Corinthians 10:31,
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
After we read this Scripture, we headed out to the blind. While we were in the blind, we prayed. We specifically prayed, “Give us this day our daily meat…” But here is where my son taught me a lesson. After he shot, we did the thing that you are supposed to do…the hardest thing to do…WAIT! I wasn’t sure that he even hit the deer but he was! I had hopes, but he was sure. This is where the first lesson was given by my son. He immediately began to pray…out loud…in a whispering voice. He was thanking God for giving him the opportunity to shoot a deer. He didn’t even know if we would be able to find the deer at that point. I tried to temper his excitement by telling him we didn’t have a deer until it was recovered. He just prayed more…”God, help dad find that deer.” After waiting for 30 minutes and having to give Cole 3 minute updates about how long we had been waiting, I snuck out of the blind to go and see if I could see any blood from his shot. As I approached the area where the doe was shot, I didn’t need to see any tracking evidence as I saw the downed doe. I gave Cole the ‘thumbs up’ back in the blind and out he came sprinting to get his deer. I am not sure what was bigger, the deer or the smile on his face!
When we walked up to the deer, he was ecstatic to say the least. I was, and still am, a proud papa for being able to experience this moment with my son…it is indescribable! But this was the moment that I was taken to school. We had finished taking pictures in the field with the deer and Cole stands up and bows his head and prays again. His prayer went something like this…
“Dear God, thanks for letting me see this deer and shoot it. I know that we will be able to eat this deer at our house and that it died in order that we can eat it to live. Help me to be thankful for all the stuff you give me and our family. Amen.”
After the Amen was said, Cole wants to fist bump and high five. Then he breaks out with his rendition of Kool & the Gang’s song, “Celebrate Good times!” He does his little deer killing dance while singing and says, “Its time to go to Dairy Queen.” I understand this blog entry may not sit well with some of you, but I wanted to share the principles that I was reminded of this Thanksgiving week by my son. We focus a lot of our thanks and reminisce about things throughout the year during this week. I often wonder why…Why don’t we give thanks more often?
We all have things to be thankful for…our family, our friends, our teammates, our coaches, our kids, our jobs, etc. Take time to give God thanks…on purpose…out loud…in front of someone you care about. Maybe even pause with them and ask them to join you in giving thanks. Remember Psalm 118:1,
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; and His love endures forever.”
What do you have to give thanks for?
Who can you demonstrate giving thanks with?
How has God been good to you this year, this month, this week, or today?
oneguyseyes 