Craig Clouston

What Matters Most

So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me…If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.

Genesis 13:8, 9

For more than thirty-five years, Dick and Craig had been hunting partners, longer than they’d been brothers-in-law. Needless to say they’d spent a lot of time together in the woods. They cherished this bond in a manner reserved for the closest of friends. Hunting with family and friends over the years had been fun, yet this bond was different. The camaraderie and experience of each hunt shared was something special, each peculiarly memorable. Only the chance to hunt with their children brought the same anticipation and satisfaction.

With siblings and offspring outnumbering hunting spots on the family farm, and no shortage of mature whitetails running around, it could have been dog-eat-dog or seniority could have trumped the most recent arrivals to the family. Not to say there hadn’t been a few tension-filled moments over the years as goals and personalities clashed, but in the end, and for the right reasons, relationships had persevered over goals.

It was understood that any tree stand on the property was open to any family member on any given day; because no animal, regardless of size and trophy potential, was more important than family, friends, or relationships.

†

There is nothing in this life, or the next, more important than the relationships we are entrusted with. No one understood that more than Abraham. Given the history of what he had done over the years for his nephew, Lot, Abraham had every right to lay claim to every piece of land stretched out before them. Yet because of his great love for Lot he chose to remove the chance of animosity from the equation by allowing him to choose first.

The next time you’re faced with the choice of conquest over relationship please remember; our funerals will be attended by those who loved us, those we invested in, not by whitetail deer or any other trophies we hold in high esteem.

Prayer

“Teach me to be a lasting and thoughtful friend, Lord. Help me to hold those You bring into my life above anything that tempts me to place it before that relationship. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”