The Lesson of the Fish

Today, one of my sons' friends came over to visit, being off of school for Thanksgiving week. Among the many varied activities they tried, they decided to catch some fish; and they did. They got a net and a hole-less flower pot and scooped some small fish into the pot to bring back to the house. My son and his friend showed his brothers the fish they caught and then moved on to another activity, leaving the little fish in the hole-less flower pot outside.

And they were forgotten.

Then, my husband came home from work and noticed the fish in the pot... and one poor little fish, dead on the cement, who had tried to escape the flower pot and get back in the water. My son said that the fish had really wanted to get back in the ditch. To which I replied that they all wanted to get back to the ditch. But in his attempt to escape, he died. And the thought occurred to me that some of us, myself included, could really learn from the lesson of the fish.

Sometimes, our situation is really bad. Truth be told, if the little fish had stayed in the flower pot, forgotten, he would have eventually died from lack of oxygen. His desire to escape was a valid one. But he didn't wait for rescue, he took matters in his own hands and ended up dead on the sidewalk. His little fish brothers are being returned to the ditch, and life and freedom, as I write. If he had waited, he would have been with them.

So, this is the lesson: Sometimes, when we get tired of waiting on God to save us from our situation, we take matters into our own hands and make our situation worse than before. If we can suffer a little while longer, have just a little more patience and faith, then just maybe we will live long enough to see the sweeter waters God has planned for our future.