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The Pastoral Lens
Simple Pleasures
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
I was paying a visit to a local funeral home the other day to spend some time with a family whose loved one had died quite unexpectedly. I didn't know the man, but I knew some of his family. Funeral homes always seem to bring a sense of reality to my busier-than-average world. While there, I am faced with the stark fact that death plays no favourites and can invade at the most inconvenient of times. It knows neither rich nor poor, male nor female, famous nobleman nor obscure peasant. As a pastor, I have seen many scenarios played out. I am an observant bystander, rummaging for an education in the school of life.This particular day would be no different for my learning curve. One of the first things that caught my eye when I went in to see the family was the old, tattered fishing rod that this man had used over the years. No diplomas or letters after his name, no list of accomplishments or "photo ops" with dignitaries. Just a plain, old, ordinary fishing rod. I heard stories of his fishing trips over the years with grandchildren, friends, etc. I was told of the simple pleasure he got from this gentle pastime. I was reminded of a verse in Proverbs, penned by the wisest man in the world, and no doubt, the richest. Here's what he said: "Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred." (Prov. 15:17).
We have been brainwashed over the years in a culture that worships power, position, and material things. Families have been discarded along life's path as some put too much emphasis on their pursuit of the American Dream. That man's grown daughters and wife, reminiscing about his life and the simple pleasures that marked it, taught me a valuable lesson that I need to be reminded of constantly. God is in the small stuff. While others are out there killing themselves to be important and gaining the world for themselves, God is quietly and effectively at work in the life of one whose priorities are in the right place. I don't know this man's faith journey, but my guess is that he learned some things about God out on those ice fishing expeditions.
You and I wake up each day with a decision to make as to how we will spend our time. The Lord wants to bring blessing into our lives, but it's not always in dramatic fashion. I don't know about you, but my day begins the same way everyday: reading a portion of the Bible. Spending time in God's Word enables me to sit back and take stock of my life as I hear from the Lord. I don't want to be too busy to hear one of my daughters' stories or miss a good anecdote from my wife about her hectic day or skip over a potential conversation with a friend on my walk to the office. I want to enjoy the simple pleasures God has for me.
It is the simple pleasures in life, like that tattered fishing pole, that remind me that life is much like the train ride that Robert J. Hastings tells us about in his classic piece of prose, "The Station." He recounts how everyone seems so preoccupied with reaching the station that they fail to enjoy the ride. Here's his sage advice: "So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come son enough."
