Okay, so this is a repost of a blog I wrote last year and posted on my Myspace. I was looking for something and found it and decided it is worth reposting. Enjoy!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Catch of the Day
Current mood: contemplative
or "You and me go fishing in the dark..." (It must be the Pastor Dan anointing that I have two titles to this blog.)
I remember as a kid going fishing with my best friend, her dad, and her brother. We would drive way out on route 80, passed Deer Haven where my grandparents lived, to a lake on the property of a friend of her father's. The goal was to catch a bass. Grant it they weren't very big, and I think the biggest one I ever caught was all of four pounds with water still in its lungs. But none the less what we didn't want was a blue gill. These fish, though more colorful than a bass were skinny and would provide no nourishment. They were "caught and released."
I also remember fishing in Louisiana with my grandfather. At the time he and my grandmother lived in Nachitoches where Steel Magnolias was filmed. We went fishing in the river where the Easter Egg hunt was held at the end of the movie. The goal then was catfish. Everything else got thrown back. (Though to this day I can't figure out why people would eat catfish being that they are bottom feeders.)
Fishing is a huge industry in the coastal areas. Here in particular people pay for seasoned professionals to take them out deep sea fishing for a day. They're not getting up before the sun (As I like to call it encroaching on people in China's time with God.) to catch feeder fish, or the "blue gills" of the sea. They want the big stuff. They want the favored, hard to catch, most sought after fish; marlin, tuna, tarpon, sailfish, shark and mackerel. They pay hundreds of dollars for bragging rights that they caught "the big one". Men don't tell fish stories about the guppies they've caught. They don't lament about the blue gills that got away.
I've had numerous people say to me, "Kara, you're a catch." I also had a philosophy at one time, okay it's still my philosophy, that I don't want any guppies. This morning as I listened to the message, but pondered other things as well, I thought about the analogy of finding "the one" as catching a fish.
There's almost no effort involved in catching a blue gill. You toss your bait out and you're bound to catch one in a few minutes. Catching a bass takes more patience. You have to find the right spot, maybe even take a little boat out on the lake, but even that effort pails in comparison to the effort needed to catch a marlin or a sailfish. Catching the most precious fish requires sacrifice. It requires loosing sleep, uncomfortable surroundings (I'm guessing deep sea fishing boats stink!), it's costly, it may make you a little woosie, but it's worth it.
I've watched so many people settle for guppies when they wanted/DESERVED marlin. They settle for the accomplishment of catching anything rather than press through for the bragging rights of getting "the big one". Who in their right mind goes fishing for a marlin and settles on a feeder fish?
I want to be one of the sought after kinds. I want to know that who ever catches me has had to make sacrifices and be uncomfortable at times in order to place himself in the position to have bragging rights that he caught me. As an angler I will not settle for a blue gill. I don't want something that looks good, but is inedible. I want the real deal. I won't lament about "the big one" that got away, I will brag about the big one that I caught.
I love the quote that says, "A woman should hide herself in God's heart so that a man must seek His heart to find her." Girls, hide yourself in the deep places of God! And guys – Go deep sea fishing. Don't settle for the blue gills in the river or even the catfish, go deep sea fishing and feel the thrill of the big catch.
A goldfish will never be a mackerel. A goldfish may get bigger depending on the environment they are put in, but they will never transform into a mackerel. Don't sell yourself short!
Sometimes I think we go fishing for what we want rather than what we need. We go fishing for coy when what we really need is a shark. We need someone that will feed us, but also keep us in line, but instead we settle for someone that will look good and be happy that we are throwing crumbs their direction.
I refuse to settle. I will not be content with a guppy. I've waited and I will brag on my big catch.
If you're married you've already decided on your catch, and the good news is God honors covenant. I believe in that situation he can transform your blue gill into a tuna. He is God after all! But if you're out looking for your fish in the sea, maybe you're even dating someone now; it's not too late to set your heart for the big catch. Its okay to throw one back, and reset your eyes on the sought after treasures of the deep.
If you're a marlin, don't swim to the shallow waters and allow yourself to be caught by someone who doesn't want to make the sacrifice necessary to catch you in your natural habitat!
10:52 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment