How Do You Catch Your Fish?
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
“There’s plenty of fish in the sea”
Sure that’s true but can you catch them? And if so, how? When I think of fishing the first two tools that come to mind are, a fishing rod or with a spear. But we shouldn’t forget the interNET, haha I had too. Unless you have been living under a rock, the saying refers to there being many people out there in the world that you could fall in love with or start a relationship with. I believe this is true but if we stick with the metaphor, fish must be caught. There are certain fish that are good for eating and some that are not, there are fish that are too big or too small or too stinky. The fisherman or woman, must have some general idea of what they are looking for or at least have their intentions worked out before they look to make a catch. There is also the subject of where are you going to fish? At your local wharf? On a boat? On a bigger boat? At the bar? At the club? When the phrase “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” is said it is usually after someone loses a fish they have caught, eg a break up has happened. This then starts either the patience waiting phase or the instant dating stage.
The reason why I wanted to write this is, I have found in this instant gratification era of history, that most of us, even I have been guilty of it, Are using spears to do our hunting. “What’s wrong with spears?” you might say, well nothing if you are willing to chase. With my experience of fishing with a hand spear, I had my flippers on and my snorkel, and I was ready to rock and roll. On one occasion I remember swimming after a fish for ages then taking shot after shot, the fish was running circles around me and I never did quite catch it. However, quite a lot of fish look bigger underwater through your googles then they are when you pull them out of the water with a spear through there side. Sometimes you can hit their tail or there face of just in the middle. Sometimes its not a killing blow but the fish ends up being wounded and if it is not the size for eating, you have done the fish a mischief as they do have a high chance of dying later, talk about a bad break up. In the dating world both online and offline we see someone and we dart towards them, looking for them to be the catch, to be the victory that we bring to show others by the shore. Looking for them to fill the emptiness or in the fish’s case the emptiness in our stomach. We might see a person that looks good in there picture on social media on the outside but what is on the inside, We might see someone who catches our eye but are they catching our hearts or would we let them or could they even? Sometimes when you are chasing a fish underwater you can be almost unsure about the size of the fish and get caught up in the chase and next thing you know you have something on your spear that you weren’t planning on. My main point here is that you might have to go through a couple of fish till you get the perfectly sized eatable one (I am referring here to the keepable size laws in Australia). When using a spear as mentioned before you can leave the catch quite wounded, So if you are unsure about what you really want it might be time to put down the spear before you hurt another fish or break another heart.
Lets reel it back and now talk fishing rods. Using the rod, it’s all about PATIENCE. You are unsure whether you will catch anything or whether you will make the catch of the day. You stare at the top of the water into the great unknown, but this gives you plenty of time to enjoy life and take in the beautiful view, if you have one of your good mates around, you can chat the breeze, kick back and let life come to you. One of my good friends, friends, dying father (We got there in the end) told his son “ Spend your time enjoying your life and being with friends and don’t spend your time chasing and obsessing over the opposite sex” I think this is worthy advice if your pursuits or current relationships are causing you to stress or be in pain its time to change your approach. All of a sudden there is a tug on the line, we could be onto something big here in these waters. You reel this big dog of a fish up, and its the catch of the day or… You reel this fish up and it’s small and no good for eating. Either way, the hook most of the time goes into the fishes’ mouth and the injuries will usually not be as fatal as opposed to if a spear had pierced them. The fishes who get caught find it harder to suck up food as they have a hole in their mouth. Speaking of mouths the rod in this article represents communication and patience the spear represents action and the end goal.
If you are not getting with all these fishing examples, we have all at one stage been in a kitchen this one is for you!
Here is some wisdom from Myles Munroe (R.I.P) with some commentary from me in brackets.
“I love cookbooks, especially the ones with full-color pictures. Nothing whets the appetite quite like a picture-perfect cake or the picture-perfect apple pie, or the perfect chicken or roast beef with garnish. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Don’t those pictures make you hungry enough to eat the page? The problem is, even though we want to eat right now, we have to look beyond the page to the recipe that follows. If we want a pie or a cake or a roast that comes out like the picture, we have to use all the proper ingredients and follow all the instructions. Otherwise, we will come out with a different and disappointing result. (take your time just like fishing with a rod)
Many people have done the same thing with marriage/relationships. They have a bright and appealing picture in their mind of what marriage/their new relationship will be like, and jump right into it without considering whether or not they have the right ingredients, or have made the proper preparations. They fill there heads with pictures of beautiful wedding gowns, a nice car, a romantic little house with a picket fence in the front and a lake in the back, candlelight dinners, moonlight walks, and perfect angelic children. Then, with little or no thought to preparation (spearing a fish after a chase), they enter into wedlock or a relationship and expect the “picture-perfect” marriage/relationship of their dreams to come about automatically. When it doesn’t happen, disillusionment sets in, and divorce/breakups often follows shortly after. ( the fish is returned to the water)
A cake is only as good as its ingredients, and so is a marriage/relationship.”
I think its best to sit in the boat and wait and enjoy your time, get to know people first before you put a spear in their hearts haha. You can more safely examine your catch in the boat or the wharf when the fish is hooked by its mouth, you take the risk of seriously hurting the fish if you spear it and check later. Although horses for courses, maybe spearing is your specialty I simply just wanted to let you know there’s more than one way to catch a fish!
I heard a wise saying recently “ Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD“ Prudent is an ugly and outdated word in my opinion but it means, acting with or showing care and thought for the future. So if we believe in god, he will sort the fishing out for us. So we do not have to worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the nonbelievers run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth without painful toil for it”
Whatever it is you seek it can be found by trusting and following Jesus Christ, let go and let god, by living life for him not only can all our dreams be realized and that emptiness is filled by the holy spirit, his will can be done on earth as it is in heaven through you. But hey what’s this got to do about fishing are you saying we shouldn’t fish at all then well before the disciples got the jobs they became known for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” So instead of looking for people for our own gain, and trusting our own understanding why not help bring people to god if the opportunity arises, and therefore in due time God will give you who you were looking for anyway. And this way instead of hurting many people, you can help many people! and still end up with your CATCH OF THE DAY! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me, Let’s get to fishing.
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD
Written by Luke Gaymer (Luke Residuos)
