The Trophy Buck

My husband, Mark, is quite proud of all the dead animals hanging on the walls of his study. He is an avid hunter, and during this time of year, he seems to eat, sleep, and breathe hunting. He was rather surprised the other day when I pointed out to him that I, too, am gearing up for my own hunting season. We actually have a lot in common when it comes to this particular sport.

You see, Mark does his hunting in the woods, and I do mine at the mall. He sits in a stand, and I stand in a line. He has special clothes for hunting, and I hunt for special clothes. He hunts with a bow, and I wrap up my purchases with a bow.

He comes home from his hunt and tells me, “I bagged a deer.”

I come home from my hunt and say, “I have lots of bags, dear.”

I was quick to point out to him that I am much better at hunting than he is. When he hunts, he often comes home with nothing. I, on the other hand, come home with a trophy every single time.

He wasted no time in reminding me that, while I may come home with a trophy every time, my trophies are easier to find than an actual twelve-point buck. And, he usually does end up with a nice trophy buck, which is why his walls are covered with them. So, we both win. He gets what he hunts for, I get what I hunt for, and everybody’s happy.

Have you ever noticed that life is that way? We almost always find what we search for. If we look for a beautiful sunset, we will find it. If we look for the telephone poles that get in the way of our beautiful sunset, that is what we’ll see.

If we look for the good in other people, we’ll find good, kind, intelligent people everywhere! But if we look for things to criticize, we will have no shortage of materials to work with.

We all like to display our trophies, too. Mark loves to show people his deer mounts, and can tell a detailed story of how each one was killed. In the same way, I love to show off my purchases, and brag about the bargains I found. It makes me wonder . . . what kinds of trophies am I displaying in my life? What things am I looking for, finding, and showing off?

We each have a choice. We can look for the good, the true, the pure, the lovely, the right, the noble things around us, and we will probably find them. Then, those will be the things we talk about, dwell on, and exhibit in our lives. Or, we can look for the bad, the negative, the wrong, the disappointing, the impure, the dishonest, the ugly things in this world, and we’ll find those things. And of course, that is what others will see displayed on the walls of our lives.

In a couple of weeks, Mark will head to Kansas, where he’ll spend a week hunting for that enormous, off-the chart buck. If he’s successful, we will be eating venison for many, many weeks. At first, I thought it not quite fair that he gets to go to his hunting Mecca, while I have to stay right here at home. But then I realized, I have a credit card. And I have the internet.

Proverbs 11:27 “He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.”