How are you living your dash?

joy. Often those simple things are right in front of us. The laugh of our children or grandchildren when we take them fishing, holding hands with our spouse, time spent with friends crappie fishing or sitting alone around a campfire watching the flames dance and flicker.

Sometimes we forget to be grateful for what we have in life: our family, our friends, our health and the great outdoors God created for all of us to enjoy. Make a list of the many things in your life you are thankful for. Make another list of the things you have wanted to do but never did. Find the time to do them so you can check them off your list.

Cherish every minute with your loved ones, be kind to others and give back when you can. That can be with money to help those in need,

Something To Think About

“The man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and advice to your kids or taking someone with you and teaching them how to catch crappie.

We often measure success by how much we have. Too much of our life is spent trying to get those things. That is not what matters in the end. You cannot take those things with you. Your dash is about your experiences, relationships and feelings. It is not about what you own. Make lots of memories that will add to your dash.

The simple things in life are the best. We only have a certain amount of beautiful sunrises and awesome sunsets. The unfortunate part is not knowing how many of them we have left. Live every day like it could be your last. We never know when that final day will come. Live, love and make the most of your dash.

As the last line says in the famous poem “The Dash” by Linda Ellis, “So when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?”

How To Keep Your Cool

August is always hot and humid. The weather has a way of making us all become slug-like, tired, sweaty and irritable. We tend to stay inside more and enjoy the air conditioner. When we have to get outside, it is like walking into a sauna.

How can you enjoy our great outdoors in that kind of weather? Our lakes do not help much unless you find a shaded cove and a slight breeze. My favorite thing to do is to find a tree-lined, spring-fed creek. I can fish, swim, float in a tube while reading a good book or take a nap in the shade.

During the sultriest, simmering days, you can see signs of fall’s approach and the promise of crisp air and colorful trees. It may still be terribly hot, but if you look up and see a monarch butterfly float by or some Virginia creeper turning red in the treetops, it is nature’s way of telling us August won’t last forever and our wonderful fall season is worth waiting for.

A Remarkable Creature

God designed a remarkable creature when he created the hummingbird. My wife and I owned a cabin near the Mark Twain National Forest on

Bull Creek for many years. It was perched high on a bluff in the trees and overlooking the creek.

Every spring, hummingbirds would arrive and bring joy to our lives and those guests who came to visit us at the cabin. Hanging from our front porch were five, 48-ounce hummingbird feeders and two, 36-ounce feeders. That is a total of 312 ounces of sugar water. At times we estimated over 300 hummingbirds sitting on the feeders, buzzing around for their turn or resting in the cedar trees. They would empty those feeders in a few days.

It was amazing. We would watch for hours, enjoying their mid-air “dog fights” for a position on their favorite feeder and doing their aerial dance. We loved their delicate features, the hues of color on their tiny bodies and their long needle-like beaks and long tongue they used to draw the sweet treat from our feeders.

When we were not around during the week, they feasted on the thousands of Columbine flowers and honeysuckle that covered all the many bluffs in the valley. As soon as we returned to the cabin on Friday afternoons, they would buzz the feeders waiting for us to fill them.

As fascinating and relaxing as it was to watch, I often thought it must be tough for those little birds to enjoy their meal in such a competitive environment. We live in a world that causes us to hurry and scurry nervously to accomplish our tasks. Anxiety, fear and worry chase us like those dive-bombing hummingbirds trying to knock us off our place of peace and rest.

In this broken world we live in today, it is hard to be still, rest or even quiet our minds. When, where and for how long are you still, quiet and rest from your busy life? A great place to do that is in the great outdoors God created for all of us and the tiny hummingbird to enjoy.