We’re Going Exploring!

This is what me and my brother would tell our mother when we wanted to go out into the wilderness that surrounded our rural Tennessee home.  Many happy hours were spent as we trekked through the hollows and valleys learning about the beauty of God’s creation and the plants and animals that lived in their natural habitat.  Often we would go far away from our home as the fields and woods seemed to stretch on forever and we would follow creeks and streams for miles looking for arrowheads and other treasures.  I don’t think our parents ever knew how far we went and we were careful to try and be home by “suppertime” as instructed.

I have such fond memories of those days before cell phones, when kids would go out and  play all day and “explore” and no one got worried about our whereabouts or our pastimes.  We didn’t have video games except for an old Atari 2600 that our father purchased at a yard sale for $5 with about 20 game cartridges.  We had a little 12 inch black and white screen to play it on and it was kept up in the attic room for us to play on.  Well, it got really hot up there in the summer time and it was so much cooler out in the woods under the canopy of trees.  And, we would rather be outside “exploring” any day and building trails and forts than be stuck inside playing games.  That was reserved for rainy days or after dark or winter time.  And even during those days, we would often rather play with and build things out of Lego than play endless hours on a video game!

I marvel at how things have changed today.  Kid’s no longer want to go out and explore their world because the immersive and addictive video games and smart phones have turned them into digital junkies.  One of the reasons for this is that so many of our children live in urban centers where there is little to nothing to do outside.  Someone is paid to do the lawn and landscaping, paid to detail the vehicle, clean the house, do the home repairs etc.  There are few trees in the yard and most of the plants other than the grass are for ornamental purposes and even toxic and not edible at all.  (Why are so many ornamental plants toxic, why don’t we plant edible and useful things around our homes?)  These children grow up without the benefits of clean, pure air, surrounded by the delightful sounds of a burbling brook and the unforgettable sound of the Whippoorwill’s call in the twilight’s deepening shadows.

Several years ago, we made the decision to move from our home close to town on it’s 3/4 acre with it’s 7 trees to a rural place where we have literally thousands of trees, a large creek where we can fish and play and where the children can go outside without us being concerned that they are going to get too close to the road.  We have great neighbors and even though we have to drive farther to get to some places, we consider it a worthwhile investment in our children’s lives.  We limit their video games to 1/2 hour each day and encourage them all to go outside and play.  I have been teaching them woodcraft and survival skills and am proud of their progress.

On this Mother’s Day, I thank God for my godly mother who watched over us but didn’t hover over us and let us go outside and “explore” the world as we saw it then.  We need more godly, praying moms like that today.  I am also grateful to my wife, the mother of our children, who also, while keeping a watchful eye, lets our kids be kids!  Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a good mother and example to all mothers.  She was faithful to her Son and was there at the end of His earthly life on the cross just as she was there at the beginning at the manger in Bethlehem.  May all our mothers today experience the love of God and the warmth of His Presence.  Happy Mother’s Day!

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PS. You can check out my website where you can set up training for many of these skills at www.waypointsurvival.com and look at and order my custom knives at www.benderknifeworks.com.

James B.