Fishing Lessons from Kiddos

As a young child - well, really as an older kid, a teenager, a young adult, a middle-aged adult, or even a senior citizen - there are a few things like the joy of feeling that tug on the line when you're reeling in a good fish. Any time we're at the lake (or any other body of water) my son and nephews always say that they want to fish. But based on my observations, they truly aren't very interested in fishing - what they really want to do is reel fish in, that's it.

But you see, there's a lot more to fishing than merely catching fish. Before you ever wet a hook, someone has to purchase the right equipment - rods, reels, hooks, bait, etc. and then do the part that no child seems to comprehend and probably the reason some grownups require adult beverages while fishing - setting up the rods and reels with the necessary equipment. Once you've got a hook tied on, now things get messy - bait! If you're using live bait, the mud and dirt from worms, cricket juice, fish guts, stink-bait, or your bait of choice often leave our hands just plain dirty.

But eventually, after all of their (your) hard work (and money), and after some patience and persistent effort, you finally achieve your goal - reeling one in!

But sadly, how many of us pursue "success" (whatever you may believe it to be) in life, the same way our kids pursue fishing?

• We don't appreciate the initial investment of money to buy equipment, time to find a fishing hole, and time to prepare the fishing rods. We don't want to go through the trial and error of figuring out the right hooks, weights, and corks. We want to skip someone else's research and investment and merely reap the rewards.
• We don't want to get dirty when it's time to bait the hook. Too many people are content to let someone else do the dirty work and then offer to watch the line/cork and help once the dirty work's done.
• We lack the patience and perseverance to keep putting the hook in the "honey hole" waiting on the fish to start biting. Maybe the hook's the wrong size, the bait's not right, or perhaps it's simply that the timing just isn't right. Sometimes you have to keep doing what you've been called to do by trial and error trusting that eventually it will pay off.
• Once we achieve success, we tend to focus too much on the end game (catching the fish), than on all the hard work, lessons learned, and people who helped out along the way.

These fishing lessons are true on the water, in our relationships, in our careers, and in our spiritual life.

We want marriages that focus on the fun stuff (kid #3 on the way) without truly getting to know our spouse, making sure we have the same goals, and putting in the hard work of budgeting, cleaning, and working through problems together.

We want career paths that look like we pull up at the pond, cast a line, and hook a world record. Business (corporate or entrepreneurial) doesn't work that way. There's a lot of hard work, a lot of failures, and a lot of time before you ever land that big one. Be patient, keep grinding, your white whale is out there.

We want spiritual lives that mirror people who have been walking with God for decades when we've been casually consulting Him for months. They pray and read their Bible daily while you pick yours up about as often as you renew your fishing license, and you wonder why they're getting better results. If you want to catch more fish, you go where fish are. If you want to get closer to God, you go where God is - His Word and your prayers.

We may have drowned a few crickets this Labor Day weekend while we missed a few fish. But the important thing is that we did it together and learned a few lessons along the way.