Squirrel Fur

Jon Bennett loves to fish and hunt. Naturally his three sons inherited their daddy’s love of the outdoors. A few days ago he told them he was going squirrel hunting and naturally they wanted to go. He told the nearly five-year-old Dylan that he would take him, but wanted to make sure he understood what they were going to do.

“Son, were going to hunt for squirrels. Do you know what we will do when we see one?”
“We will shoot it,” Dylan said.
“What happens to the squirrel,” Jon asked.
Dylan said, “It will be dead.”
“Then what do we do?” dad asked.
Dylan thought for a minute and answered, “I don’t know.”
Jon said, “Well, we eat it.”
Dylan said, “I don’t like squirrel.”
“Well son,” Jon said, “If we kill it, we have to eat it. We don’t kill anything that we don’t eat. Are you okay with that?”
“Yes,” Dylan said.
“Son, are you willing to eat the squirrel?”
“Yes,” he said again. He paused and then he asked, “Can we take the fur off first.”

Though he did not want to eat fur, little Dylan was willing to do whatever he needed to do in order to do what he wanted to do and to please his father. There are two great truths in this story.

The first truth is this: people do what they have to do in order to do what they want to do. I want to hunt and if I have to eat fur, then I will. One of the wisest sayings I’ve ever heard was this: “To become what you want to become, you must do what you don’t want to do.”

The second truth is this: We must be willing to do anything for our father – our heavenly father. A four-year-old can’t possibly understand all the reasons why we have to eat what we kill, but daddy said it was so and so he believed his father. We may not understand all of God’s principles, but we have to trust that He knows best. At the end of our life we will be able to look back and see that our Father knew best all the time. I love the way one man put it, “Life can only be understood looking back, but must be lived looking forward. Just trust God. He will take care of you.

Next time God allows a hard task into your life, you can pray, “Do I have to eat the fur,” as long as you are willing to do whatever He calls on you to do.

Lonnie Davis

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