As Days Go By

In case anyone doesn’t already have this basic tidbit of information about this writer…I love to fish! I suppose it is in my DNA, because my real-life superheros (AKA my Dad and Uncles) practically have scales and gills, and that love affair with little green fish proved to be more contagious than the Coronavirus as I have tested positive for Fishing Fever as well! My personal battle with this contagion, however, has evolved over the years. Allow me to explain…

As a younger version of myself, I fully embraced the idea that it was my personal duty to catch as many fish as I possibly could. Whether that be for a family reunion fish fry or a Bass Club Tournament weigh-in bag, I was on a mission to catch the most and biggest anytime I was walking a creek bank or scuttling along a lake-shore in a floating vessel of any sort. I now know what my dad meant when he used to say, “I wish someone would catch that last fish swimming in the water so I’d be able to quit worrying about fishing so much!”. The younger me definitely had a greater focus on catching fish than just fishing.

Fast-forward a few decades, and that same guy still loves to fish, but these days the experience of being on the water far outweighs the loot landed from the depths. Don’t get me wrong, I still love catching lots of and big bass, but I get an equal kick out of the solitude of the open lake and the glimpses of God in the great outdoors that come about at random: A Bald Eagle soaring over the water as he seeks to prove he’s a better fisherman than the guy in the boat…A sunrise or sunset reflected on the surface of the water in a way that would make Rembrandt jealous…A doe and fawn sneaking around the water’s edge to improve upon and pass on the instinct to survive…And the emergence of Spring from the icy grips of Old Man Winter as the days lengthen and the Mercury rises.

I reminisce often on my competitive days of tournament fishing and wonder how many moments I missed like the budding tree on the shore in the picture atop this post due to my shortsightedness focused solely on catching. How many memories are filed away in the “Could’ve Been” folder of my life because I simply wasn’t noticing the beauty right before me? Ahh…I suppose I’ll never really know, but I am determined to err from here on out on the side of experiencing nature’s majesty rather than basking in a quickly fleeting moment of greatness. As the good book says, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” – James 4:14. I can’t take my accomplishments with me, but I can allow Nature’s God to prepare me for eternity with Him in the moments that make up life!

Clearly, our outlooks sometimes change as time goes by. Things that once were of utmost importance become items placed on the back burner in favor of those things that once went unnoticed but now demand our soul’s full attention.  And as you’re deciding which is which in your own life, I’ll be right beside you or just around the next bend in the creek, and I’ll see you in the Great Outdoors.