Opening Day – April 21, 2008

Opening day of turkey season is always an exciting time for me. My night's sleep is restless where I’ll wake up several times in the night before my alarm goes off at 3:10 a.m. We were out the door by 4:57 a.m. It takes an hour to get from my house to the gate at the bottom of the hill then another 30 minutes to the back of the property line. I walk for ½ mile from where I park my truck. In the dark it is sometimes difficult to follow the trail but this morning there were burns on both sides. In some places you could still see the glow of embers still burning and smell smoke from distant fires.

It was a little before 6 a.m. before I got to my spot and quickly set my decoys and my cover. I sat down at 6:05 a.m. and gave about 6 or 7 tree yelps on my box call. It was still kind of dark and I figured that the turkeys hadn’t flown down yet. The toms were quiet up to this point so I thought I might get a response . . . nothing.

I saw something move about 50 – 60 yards away on a little ridge directly in front of me at about 20 degrees NE. At first I thought it was some kind of varmint but was able to see it was a tom the closer he got. He was moving laterally near the top of the ridge. When he dropped down out of sight as he came in my direction, I switched the shotgun to my right. (I shoot left handed.) He came up about 345 degrees NW from me at about 25 to 30 paces. I lifted my gun when he was behind a big oak and pulled the trigger as he came out the other side. He flopped several times for what seemed several minutes and then lay still. The time was 6:10 a.m. Five minutes and my first week of turkey season was over. You can only take one turkey the first week. He was 22 lbs. with an 11 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs. I heard no gobbling and I didn’t even have time to pull down my mask or put on my gloves. I barely had time to switch hands to shoot from the right. All in all, it was a good hunt. Apparently, he was tired of fighting so he was sneaking in for some turkey-love.

Fruit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Gal. 5:22-23

I used to think of the fruit in categories of growth, one building on the other. But it occurs to me that they are personality traits of the Holy Spirit that demonstrate who He is. They are His outworking in our lives as we yield to Him. One does not come easier than the other – love is not demonstrated more than self-control. They are not legislated into our lives or willed into our lives but gifted and permeated as a “natural” emanation of Him because He resides in us. May the Holy Spirit (and His personality traits) so invade your personality that others can’t tell where you stop and He begins.