The Secret of Three

 The holidays are upon us and for many that means time in the woods searching for a proper harvest of venison. I am no exception to this. For the past several years I have had the opportunity to participate in state park reduction hunts either at the early end or late end of our rifle season. I've done it all from ground sitting, stalking, and using a climber to get a better view and hopefully opportunities. 

Every year has been a bust. Not to be dissuaded, I took to the wonder of another state park again this year. And this time around it was a day of firsts: first harvest on a reduction hunt, first deer taken with a new rifle (350 Legend Savage Axis), and first deer taken using a tree saddle. Three firsts!

As this is the time of Thanksgiving, I am exceptionally grateful for these. Yet on the heels of this incredible hunt my family was assailed by difficult news. My wife, who has had several mysterious health issues over the last few years received an unwelcome and potentially devastating diagnosis. By all rights this should give us reason to fret, to fear, and to be consumed by the "what ifs" that often plague these  determinations. 

Hope can be a fragile thing. But there's an interesting thing about hope. There is a proverb that says "a strand of three cords is not easily broken." Years ago I set out to investigate the relationship between hope, faith, and love. Let me be clear - I'm not talking romantic love, nor am I talking wispy faith in the form of wishful thinking. I speak of concrete, though intangible, terms. 

These three are tied together, inextricably so. Like an archer with a bow and arrow. The arrow cannot fly without the bow and the bow cannot shoot without the archer. Hope is the arrow, faith is the bow, and love is the archer. No, forget that silly cartoon image of cupid with puffy little cheeks floating on a cloud. Think instead the warrior whose aim determines the prize, the reward, the trophy, the harvest. Hope is propelled by faith. Faith gets its focus from the archer and the archer determines the target. 

This is the secret of three. 

No bow and an arrow is nothing more than a spindly stick. No arrow and the bow is just a stick taught with string. No archer and the two others, filled with potential, will sit idly for all time.

I could take this further - the arrow is point, shaft and fletchings. The bow is limbs, riser and string. The archer is mind, body and spirit. Each need the three components to do what they do best. A bow is useless with out string or limbs or riser. An arrow cannot be aimed or hit effectively without fletchings or point. Never mind the foolishness of shooting an arrow without a shaft.

This is true for the archer. You. Me. Anyone. If we have no body, how could we hold the bow, the arrow? If no mind, how could we draw or aim or shoot? But what of spirit? This is like the force of Love. The spirit of the hunt is like this force. It's the motivation, the drive, the energy that sends us scampering through the trees in search of that harvest of plenty. 

In the wake of dire news, that energy can either dissipate like air from a leaky ballon or ignite a passion to seek answers. 

The park hunt was weeks ago, and while I hit the woods several times since, I saw nor heard any deer. Rarely have I had such a long spell without at least seeing or hearing something of a deer. But this last time, as I sat for hours shivering in the wind as a cold front moved in, I felt my hope begin to wane. It was in this moment that I pondered the Three. To saddle hunt you need a rope, a harness and a good tree. Even a leaning stand needs the stand, the tree and a good tether to hold it in place. To shoot a deer with a rifle you need the gun, the ammo and hunter - just like the archer. And the ammo is itself three - bullet, powder, casing. 

By now you might be weary of this analogy. I'll stay the course. 

A few years ago, I went through a season of what I call "smooth seas." Everything was routine, typical, uneventful. Even as I became complacent there was this idea that something was on the horizon. Little did I know a storm was brewing. As a manager of a small central department to the company I worked for, I was prone to posting words of encouragement, inspiration and motivation to keep morale moving on an upward trend. One such quote struck me:

"Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor." 

I'm not sure exactly who coined that phrase, but I do wonder if they truly understood what they were saying. I grew up on the water. Sailing was familiar to me and I have memories of good and bad trips in all manner of boats. But this, this was different. A good sailor learns almost exclusively by experience. They can have all the knowledge in the world about sails, sheets, masts, rudders, and so forth and be just as likely to capsize as a youth inadvertently rocking over a canoe. 

 Life gets like this. Storms of unforeseen circumstances can blow in and shake our confidence, even try our mettle as when they company I worked nearly a decade for shuttered its doors. These are the seas we need to learn to sail, trim the sails, drive into the waves and fight the rudder. This is where we learn the skills needed to make it to a safe harbor, though battered and beaten we may be. In this the secret of the Three make all the difference. 

Love is the foundation. Most of us have a basic understanding of love. Loving our family, our friends, even our pets. But what does that look like in hard times? Love is pushing through the flotsam and jetsam of tragedy and hardship. It's the giving up of yourself to help or even rescue others. But without faith, without hope, love becomes empty motions. Its bailing water on a sinking ship. 

Faith is the thing that gets us moving. It's the belief that we'll make it through, one way or the other and maybe by a thread but make it nonetheless. It's the trust that something's gotta give, even if that something is ourselves. But that giving is what's tied to hope. 

One of my favorite songs has the line "We're all cast-aways in need of rope Hangin' on by the last threads of our hope"

Here is where empty hours in a treestand yield fruit. Here is where time in the crashing waves finds its anchor. Hope isn't the capstone on a pyramid of faith and love. Nor is it the strands that tie them together. Without faith, without love, hope is dreaming of better times. Instead, hope is the arrow. It's the thing that once focused and let loose flies to its mark. Certainly winds of change conflict its flight, but it will hit regardless. It's our hope that it hits where we aim, the bullseye at the other end of the field, the heart of the matter we're pursuing. 

Just as I'll continue to take to the woods in search of another bountiful harvest, I'll take to the circumstances and fight for answers, search for meaning, and push for more. This is how three cords are stronger than one. Like the rope I use to keep me safe and to climb for higher perspective, so do these aid me in give me the courage to work throw these hard times.