This year I spent Christmas in the Blue Ridge mountains in Georgia. A cute little Air BnB cabin on Fightingtown Creek that flows from the Ocoee River in South Tennessee. The thing that caught my eye from the 50 foot deck that runs along the continuously babbling creek were a number of red and white bobbers caught in the tree branches that over hung the water. I had visions of youngster casting their lines in hope of hooking their first trout. Were these bobbers the result of their first attempt to lay the bait in the water to an unsuspecting fish that would be dinner or their final cast, cutting the line and calling it a day? Every morning I wondered. I saw birds, squirrels, a small family of deer but never saw any fish. I had hoped to see a bear too but never did but does not seeing or catching really matter? I don’t think so. I believe it’s more about the experience and who you share it with. Those bobbers represent memories for someone. Lessons of patience and persistence. The ability to trust and believe there is something out there even if it’s not seen. Our spiritual journey is sometimes a fishing expedition to find God. We can sense Him in all of nature although He is sometimes as camouflaged as a doe in the brush. For others who have found the Creator it’s a chance to grow closer to Him, to understand His plan for us and His timing. To be still and know that He is God.

This season has had a certain freshness and newness being far from the clamor of buying presents and Holiday gatherings. It’s been good to be off my schedule and on His. Those bobbers in the tree have memories for someone and now they have a special meaning to me.

Buy memories, not things. They last longer.

Merry Christmas