OUTDOOR TRUTHS: Like New

By Gary Miller

One thing I notice each deer season is how much more aware of my surroundings at the beginning of the season than I am in the middle or toward the end. The first few times I’m in a treestand, I am quick to notice everything about my environment.  I take notice not because I’m trying to gain a hunting advantage, but because it has been months since I was last in this place. The sights, sounds, and smells are new again. And their effect on my senses is overwhelming. At the beginning of the season, I find myself more aware of creation than of the creature I came to hunt. But by the middle or end of the season, it seems I spend more time focused on the task at hand and as a result miss some really beautiful things.  I was reminded of this by the app that tracks my cycling trips. My most common ride this year involves an extreme climb. After each ride, my app records it and then gives me this message. “Did you even stop to enjoy the view?” And the truth is, much of the time I didn’t. I just rode with my head down, my heart pumping, and my mind on something I needed to do when I finished. What's worse is that this ride takes place somewhere people come from all over the world just to enjoy the view. Yet I get so wrapped up in myself that I don’t even stop to enjoy what others have traveled thousands of miles to see.                 

What happens on my bike and toward the end of my deer season, also happens far to often in my day-to-day life. I get so wrapped up in my to-do list, my appointment schedule, and my projects that I lose sight of the really beautiful things and the people around me. I fail to notice the trees and the birds or even stop to consider what wonderful and complex gifts my eyes and ears are that allow me to see and hear them. I think about my “stuff” and forget about my own mind, and the health of that mind, that allows me to even think about all that stuff. While millions come to witness the beauty of the national park where my bike ride takes place, we can all marvel at the works of God simply by considering how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We just have to choose each day to see it all in a new way. Just like the first day of deer season.

Gary Miller has written Outdoor Truths articles for 24 years. He has also written five books which include compilations of his articles and a father/son devotional. He also speaks at wild-game dinners and men’s events for churches and associations. Stay updated on Outdoor Truths each week by subscribing at Outdoortruths.org.