unappreciative?

A friend of mine called me yesterday and wanted to know how we did with the turkeys yesterday. I was delighted to tell him that my son bagged his trophy gobbler and it had a 12 inch beard. That made five big mature gobblers that we bagged this week.

My friend who happens to be one of the best, if not THE best, turkey hunter in Florida and perhaps the entire southeast immediately asked, “How long were his spurs?”

I responded, “I don’t know maybe an inch and a half long.

He immediately lit into me like a buzz saw saying a gobbler with inch and a half spurs was a 6 or 7 year old bird and a sure nuff trophy.
I said, “Well I just measured the beard and didn’t even think to measure the spurs. I just estimated their length. In fact I didn’t measure any spurs this week”.

Exasperated, he lit into me again saying the spurs are what really counts in turkey hunting and not the length of the beard. He couldn’t get over the fact that I did not appreciate them…


Hmmm. This reminded me of a fishing trip that my youngest son and I took to Australia. We set a record for the most trophy fish caught in one day with the charter company that we booked. We caught an unbelievable 83 trophy fish between the two of us in just one day. I could barely walk after reeling in all those monster fish.

That night one of the guys from Australia came to my son and was excitedly asking about an Emperor Red fish that he heard that I had caught that day. My son told him the story of how I had landed one that weighed in excess of fifty pounds. He showed him a photo from his digital camera of me posing with the big fish right before I released it. When the guy saw it he nearly went berserk, excitedly saying he had fished these waters for 12 years in the hopes of landing one of these trophies, but so far he had not been able to score. He said he wished he could have been there if for no other reason than to just to “see” one in person.

My son said, “Wow, that’s weird, my dad caught two of them and we didn’t even know what they were”.

The guy shook his head incredulously and sadly walked away muttering to himself.

I was thinking about this in my turkey blind while waiting for daylight this morning and I thought how odd it is that sometimes we do not even realize what treasures we may have, much less appreciate them. It made me think of those folks in Saudi Arabia and other countries that can be put to death just for being in possession of a Bible. Even at the risk of death there are those who hide them in their homes and study the word of God in the dark of night. Here in the USA we can own a Bible and worship openly, but too many don’t ever even think about it.

I thought of other things that are sometimes taken for granted, a good spouse, happy kids and grandkids, good health, hamburgers and chili, puppies, air conditioning, red sunrises, chirping birds, smoky campfires, and starlit nights.

What is unappreciated in your life?

Thank almighty God for whatever it may be. All blessings flow from Him.


1 Chronicles 29:11-13, NLT

The glory, the victory,
and the majesty.
Everything in the heavens
and on earth is Yours,
O Lord,
and this is Your kingdom.
We adore You
as the One who is over all things.
Wealth and honor come from You alone,
for You rule over everything.
Power and might are in Your hand,
and at Your discretion
people are made great and given strength.
O our God,
we thank You
and praise Your glorious name!”