Spirit & Truth # 247
“Just Fishin’”
By Greg Smith
I wouldn’t describe myself as a
country music fan, but I love Trace Adkins’ song, Just Fishin’.[i] It’s about a man and his young daughter
fishing together. She thinks they’re
just fishing, but he realizes that they’re doing much more than that. They’re creating a bond that will last a
lifetime. Adkins sings:
And she thinks we’re just fishin’ on the
river side,
Throwing back what we could fry,
Drowning worms an killing time,
Nothing too ambitious
She ain’t even thinking about what’s really going on right now
But I guarantee this memories a big one
And she thinks we’re just fishin’
Throwing back what we could fry,
Drowning worms an killing time,
Nothing too ambitious
She ain’t even thinking about what’s really going on right now
But I guarantee this memories a big one
And she thinks we’re just fishin’
This past weekend I took my youngest
son camping. At nine years old, it was
his first camping trip. We hiked. We fished.
We canoed. We cooked over a
campfire. To me, It was no big
deal. To him, it was huge. To me, it was a weekend away. But he told me he’d had “one of the best days
of my life.”
Over the past thirty-nine years, I’ve had countless camping trips. Daniel can count only one. I’ve started innumerable campfires, but this
weekend Daniel lit his first. I have a
whole collection of knives, but Daniel just received his first pocket
knife. I have four children with whom
I’ve had countless “special” days. But
each of my children has only one dad to share a special day with them. With the busyness of my schedule, it’s easy
to let the events on my calendar crowd out the really important things. Maybe you’re like me, and you need to reframe
your life so that you schedule your activity around your family, rather than
scheduling your family around your activities.
Trace Adkins talks about fishing being more than fishing, and I
agree. In fact, it has nothing to do
with catching fish at all. Daniel and I
never got a bite, but the time we spent together was worth more than anything
we could have put in a pan. As the
evening wound to a close and our fire died to embers, our conversation turned
to spiritual things. He had questions,
and together we found where the Bible had answers. That never would have happened if I hadn’t made
time for him.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-7 God says, “You shall love the Lord with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today
shall be on your heart. You shall teach
them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you
rise.” In other words, spend time with
your kids and grandkids. While you’re
spending time with them, whatever you’re doing, tell them about God.
Popular parenting experts say that quantity time isn’t important, but
what’s necessary is to spend “quality time” with our kids. But quality time is what happens when you
spend a quantity of time together. Give
yourself to them, and in years to come it will be easier for them to give
themselves to Jesus.
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