The “Gone Fishin” sign has been up at my house for a few days. Friday some really good friends and I took a drive north from St. Louis and headed up to Baldwin, Michigan to do some salmon fishing. Salmon fishing is a kind of weird thing. It isnt like the fishing most people are accustomed to. These fish migrate upstream at a certain time. Thats the time we try to be there to catch them. Last year we were just a little late and although there were still a lot of fish to catch they were getting close to the zombie stage of life. See, when the spawning is all over, they die. When salmon first come into the stream they are bright and strong and full of life. They slowly transform into darker colors and then they actually look like they are rotting away just before they die. They are a LOT more fun to catch when they first come into the stream than in the later stages as they grow weaker and more lethargic. For weeks I had been monitoring the fishing reports and trying to make sure that our timing was just right. Last week it was all good news and the fish were starting to come into the river. Rain and colder temps were on the way which is not good news for lots of fishermen but for salmon fishermen this means the fish will be moving and the run is on! We hit the water Saturday morning expecting to have a morning full of excitement and the rush of adrenaline. As we walked to the familiar holes that we know hold fish, we were disappointed to see no fish. I put on a fly that I had tied in preparation for this trip, a purple egg-sucking leech (you probably dont care about the name of the fly but I just love to say, “purple egg-sucking leech”), and began to work the deeper water in hopes that fish were hiding there. We fished all morning with only a few responses to our efforts. We trudged back to the truck confused by what had just happened. We were just too early. All the planning, all the work getting prepared was for nothing. Well, we could have looked at it that way. But the truth is that there were fish there. There werent very many there and they really were not interested in doing much eating. I finally hooked some fish. They jumped liked silver bullets and ran downstream like locomotives. They were powerful and fast and knew how to get into the logs and break my line. I never got a single one into the net. Today I am a better fisherman. Sometimes working hard and not actually getting my hands on the prize makes me more skilled than if I just go to a stream and catch dumb and hungry fish. Im really anxious to go and try it again. Next month I will. There will be a river somewhere full of salmon and I will use the new things I have learned this trip to catch them. Im a guy that really hates failure. God somehow gave me the ability to accept failure when I am fishing. It has taken a long time to realize that I need to apply those principle to the rest of my life. Now, I find it really difficult to call anything a failure. If I learn something through it I could not have learned any other way, it is a success. The only failure is when I choose to not use what I learned in the past to make decisions about my future. When I put these words together in the mornings, I often get up from this chair feeling like no one will like this or I didnt make my point and sometimes I suppose that is true. There are definitely times I cast my line here and come up empty. But it is never an empty time for me because I am learning from God. He teaches me through abundant rewards and also through and empty stringer. It does not matter if I am more rich or poor at the end of a day because God personally works in me. I am finding that to be a better man today with the hope of being a better man tomorrow encourages me to keep on doing what I know to be right. Galatians 6:9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. I have learned to apply this concept to my fishing. When the timing is right I reap the harvest of blessing. It is the same when I do good in all the rest of my life. I have to be more committed to that. If I can work so hard and toss aside disappointment fishing, I have to learn to be able to do it in my relationships and service to God. God doesnt allow me to go on fishing trips just so that I can feed my desires. He has to teach me there just like he does sitting at this desk in the morning. Ive had a couple pity parties lately when things didnt go the way I hoped they would. Thats not what God wants me to take from those things. He wants me to take wisdom from them. I am a work in progress. There is still a lot to learn.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 10:49:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015