“To everything there is a season, and a time
for every purpose under the heaven:”
Ecc. 3:1
With the new year upon us, a new season in our lives will undoubtedly
begin. Make it a good season to harvest. Sow your seeds with faith, family,
work and recreation. The rewards will be great. If you doubt, read on. I have
been beaten down by life, sown my seeds and now I am reaping great rewards.
Life comes in seasons. My one true passion has always been
the outdoors. Not just the activities we enjoy, but the beauty, laws and
awesome power that the natural world has to offer. Who hasn’t sat on their
front porch in awe of a strong thunder storm?
When I was younger, I watched Wild Kingdom and Wild
America, where I first saw a grizzly bear charge a Jeep and the headbutting big
horn sheep of the West captivated me. Watching a lion take down a gazelle in
Africa reminded me that nature is a wonderful creation for all of us to enjoy
as our seasons change.
I owe my love and respect for the outdoors to my dad. My
earliest memories are of fishing on a river bank and hunting ringneck pheasant behind
Blaze our German shorthaired pointer. This is when my dad passed along his love
of the outdoors and instilled in me the ethics of a true sportsman, right down
to picking up empty shotgun shells and used fishing line.
The first time my parents, well my dad, (mom not so much),
thought I was old enough to go fishing alone he dropped me off at Perry’s Mill
Pond in Fairfield Ct. about two miles from my house. I was 5. Incidentally that
was the same year that under the close supervision of my dad I fired a side-by-side
20 gage shotgun on my own for the first time. I hit the can sitting on a stone
wall and bruised my right shoulder. Now folks relax. It was 1969 and it seems
that people had a lot more respect and common sense about things back then. It
was a wonderful season in my life.
In the mid 1970’s my dad retired to Florida and a new
season began. I was exposed to a whole new world. A new culture and new
wildlife. I learned about gators, rattlesnakes big bass and quail. I found a
new way to play in the mud, four-wheel drive trucks and dirt bikes can be fun.
I trained my first birddog, an English Pointer named Tramp, who taught me that
birddogs point more than birds. Tramp, on point, got bit on the nose by a
rattlesnake. He was very sick. His neck and face swelled up twice its normal
size, but he was back in the field in three weeks pointing quail.
Another season ends.
Getting older meant getting married, having kids and
learning what the big R meant. Responsibility.
And just like that a new season in my life began. Working 40
hours a week just to pay the bills, put food on the table and shoes on my two
growing boys’ feet. Time moves on, bones get broken and kids get sick, one so
seriously he wasn’t supposed to live, but God had other plans.
Now I’m a single dad and my seasons go from quail, snook
and bass season to baseball, hockey and basketball seasons. A dad’s job is to
instill his belief system in his children, so I coached a lot of sports.
Through coaching I was able to teach my boys the important things in life hard
work, honesty, teamwork, being reliable and the love of the simple things in
life. Though the ups and downs of childhood and those teen years, somehow my
boys learned these lessons, although sometimes they did it the hard way. Today
my boys are good hard-working men living in the North East along with my
grandson. They understand that trucks rust, money burns and guns misfire, but
they also know no matter how many miles separate us I am just a phone call away.
Another season passes.
In February 2016 a new season began in my life. I married a
beautiful country girl. And even though we deal with the ups and downs of life
and both work 40-50 hours a week, its back to the basics. Fishing, canoeing,
hiking in the woods and of course, shooting. Man can she shoot. With God
guiding our path, this season will last the rest of our lives.
Remember, life comes in seasons. If you are in a
frustrating season, have faith, it will end soon because God is preparing you
for the best season of your life.
Daniel 2:21 - And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
Happy New Year
and God Bless
