Outdoor Truths: Years of stupidity aren’t uncommon
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By Gary Miller
This year’s turkey season was full of all kinds of different experiences. I shot and killed. I shot and missed. I witnessed lots of gobblers strutting just out of range and others close enough, but just behind me. There were four jakes that constantly came to my decoy party and would stay until I ran them off. I hunted in the cold, the heat, and the rain. Some days I walked miles and other days I set up only a few feet from my truck. At times there were so many turkeys roaming around my farm, I would get stuck in the paralysis of analysis, just wondering which direction I needed to go. But there’s no doubt the most difficult part was trying to outwit several of the older and wiser birds. It seems to me there’s a big difference in how a tom acts after it reaches its third birthday. The actions of a two-year-old bird versus an older bird are like night and day. The younger toms are predictable and gullible. They make moves the older birds never do. I guess that’s why more two-year old toms are killed each year, more than the mature ones. I think the more mature ones have finally come into their own. They have finally figured out how they were created. They have discovered that life, health, and success come as they function within how God created them and the world. Maybe there’s a lesson here for us.
I think it takes every young man and woman a few years to come into ourselves. As a young adult I did stupid things. I mean I do stupid things now, but back then I held records for stupid things. A lot of it was from trying to figure out who I was and what I was meant to do. And that some things that sound good and look real may just be a trap that would leave me hanging on the wall in the devil’s trophy room. But here’s the good news. My years of stupidity were not uncommon. Yours weren’t either. In fact, all your predictable and gullible moves that led you into a snare were already factored in by God. Before you committed one dumb move, God anticipated it and went ahead and made provision. He was and always will be, one step ahead, making messages and ministries from your messes. You’re here today with a few feathers missing, just as God planned. You’re here today with a limp, just as God planned. These are not only to keep you from prideful strutting, but they are your story that lets everyone know God uses wounded people.
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■ Gary Miller has written Outdoor Truths articles for 21 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.
