Are You the True You?

After a couple of weeks of cold, the last couple of days have been sheer bliss! Last evening I was grilling burgers on the porch in just a T-shirt. The thermometer said it was only in the forties, but it felt like sixty. The sunshine and melting snow has me excited about spring, even though it's only the middle of February. Sometimes I wonder if temperature should be measured by our feelings instead of a number on a thermometer. 

On Sunday afternoon I decided that it would be best to stay inside as it was raining and I was battling a cold. The snow outside was still way too deep to look for sheds anyway, and sometimes it’s good to have a lazy afternoon. 

But spring was in the air. Saturday had been sunny and the snow had all melted off of the driveway. I was busy making glass and the boys each had separate church league basketball games that we wanted to watch in the evening. With all of that going on, I didn't get outside at all.

So I figured it would do me good to get out for at least a little bit on Sunday and then come back in and take a lazy afternoon nap. I had a trail camera down off the mountain that I wanted to get. I had put it out after season with the hopes of getting a picture of a decent buck that I discovered last fall. I was hoping that he survived hunting season and winter and if he did I would chase after him next fall. It would take maybe an hour and a half, but I would be in my truck part of the time and if I wore my rain jacket I probably wouldn't get too wet, and I would be back home and sitting by the fire in an hour or so, and still have time for a lazy afternoon nap.

Sometimes I forget what a thousand feet in elevation can make, and when I got to my destination I noticed that there was a lot less snow there than what we had up at the house. There were a good many bare spots on the south facing slopes. I hiked in to get the camera and started looking for deer sign and following trails.  Before I knew it, hours were slipping by. I texted Jenelle to let her know what I was up to so that she wouldn't worry and continued looking for sign and sheds. As the dreary day turned into dusk, I headed back to the truck. It had been a good afternoon. I ended up finding four sheds, nothing big,  but it's always fun to find antlers. My top was dry but my jeans were soaked through. The thermometer in my truck said 36 degrees but I was freezing. I headed home and got some dry clothes on, threw some wood on the fire and opened up the draft. Jenelle was watching the Olympics and so I joined her. It was a good way to wrap up the day.

When Blake came home later in the evening he wondered why it was so hot. “It's seventy nine degrees in here” he exclaimed. I responded with, “ it feels pretty good to me!”. So maybe it's good that temperature is not just a feeling, or we'd all be arguing about how warm it should be.

If you're wondering where I'm going with this story, well I'm not so sure about that myself.

A week or so ago, a friend shared a little quip with me. It was a story about a guy named Rabbi Zusya who, as an old man said this, “in the coming world, they will not ask me, ‘why were you not Moses?’, instead they will ask me, ‘why were you not Zusya?”

Wondering what I should write about this week, and being super excited about shed hunting season coming, but knowing that some people are tired of all of my hunting stories, I wasn't sure what to write.

With the story of Rabbi Zusya in mind, I decided to stay true to who I am and write about another one of my outdoor adventures. After all, some day I hope that I can look at my Maker knowing that I did my best at being who I was meant to be.

With that in mind, I hope that my writing encourages you so that one day you can look at your Maker and say the same thing too!