Fishy Life Lessons

When I was a kid, I went fishing just a handful of times. My dad had the rods, but perhaps not the time or patience to take me out. I do remember one childhood memory of going “fly” fishing. This is a unique form of fishing that uses a long rod and a complicated casting technique. Fly fishing results in the line being cast much further than in traditional fishing. When the line zooms across the river, it makes a loud and long noise; I really loved that noise. It took some time to get the technique down, but I eventually reached a point where every cast was a fun challenge, rather than a tangled failure. There was no fish caught that day, but each failed reel of an empty hook was a chance to try again. I only went fly fishing that one time, but the memory is still so vivid that I often find myself retelling the tale of the day. I am not an experienced, good, or knowledgeable fisherman (if I can even use that term?), but I do have some life lessons to share that I learned that day.

Failure teaches you more than success: From catching the hook on my pants to getting the line tangled, I had a good amount of failure that day. But every mistake made brought me one step closer to the perfect cast. With that said, I had to pause and ask myself what went wrong. I had to view the mistakes as lessons to learn from. At times, I feel like a professional excuse maker. I find it far too easy to blame something other than myself for my own failures. When life goes off the rails, as it does, ask yourself what you could have done differently; there is growth in that.

The bait matters: The perfect cast with the most expensive rod will still catch no fish, unless the fish are hungry for the bait. Paul said to the Corinthian church that he became all things to all people. Paul did not mean that he pretended to be something or someone he was not, but rather, he took the time to learn about people, to understand where they were coming from, and what they were about. Paul did this because he knew people could only hear with open ears. Take the time to know people, and care about them; it will open ears and hearts.

There comes a time to pack up and go home. When I finished fishing that day, I had no idea that I would never go again; I just knew that I enjoyed the day. Like all days, the sun sets and it was time to go home. We don’t know when this life will end, so do what you love, tell people you care about them, lean into every hug, and enjoy a good cup of coffee, for eventually we all go home.