Gone Fishin’

 

The reel is released. The quick swift sound of the line flying through the air as the weight of the bate sinks it quickly into the water with a “bloop” is my favorite sound. The bate sinks down to the bottom of the lake swiftly as I begin the process of waiting. 

 

Waiting in the stillness. 

 

Waiting for fish to bite and changing the slow still pace to an epic adventure of battle as you begin to try and reel in this precious thing you have been waiting for. 

 

Waiting to see if you even get a nibble. Maybe for hours. You sit. You sit in the stillness. The waiting. Maybe you walk away with not a single bite. Maybe you walk away with a sense of disappointment. But you will return and trust that the next time could be a different story. And in the midst of the waiting, you sure did have a good time- the sunshine reflecting off the water and the heat of the day on your skin. The stillness of the lake and the trees swaying in the wind. Birds are chirping and flowers are blooming, and you were outside in the calm of the day- yep, a day gone fishin’.

 

Sitting on this wooden peaceful dock somewhere in the middle of the quarantined days, I reminisced on sweet memories I’ve had while fishing.

 

When I was little, my earliest memories with my dad were bringing me along on his fishing adventures. Just me and my dad. We would stop for a biscuit at the gas station down the road. I had my pink princess fishing pole and my own little tackle box and I couldn’t wait to go out by the water, just me and dad. I’d like to say we caught a lot of fish, which sometimes we did, but a lot of time was spent with dad catching bushes or trees and getting me untangled from whatever mess I got in. Or in the midst of waiting for the fish to come, I would get bored, walk over to the rocks, find the biggest bolder, and throw it in by dad’s pole- scaring all the fish away. 

 

Waiting was boring ya know… what can I say. 

But whether we caught fish or didn’t catch fish, those are some of our fondest memories together. It was space for just us. And then if we did catch something, it was a gift on top of the gift of spending time with him. It was something special. And we couldn’t wait to bring our fish home to mom, to show them off and tell her our epic story of how we caught it. I would watch my dad clean them off and we would eat them for supper after a long day of fishing in the southern summer heat. 

 

As I have grown up, these moments are still some of my most cherished memories with my dad. We still have some sweet moments fishing but they are few and far between with the pace of life and the proximity of where I usually live or am traveling to my childhood smalltown home where my parents live. Still, I look back at those moments and smile. I look forward to another fishing trip with my dad. 

 

A few weeks ago, I was spending some time on the dock outside the place we are staying at on the lake. This home was really a gift from God. A beautiful blessing and constant reminder of His faithfulness and goodness. 

 

[You can read more about how we ended up here in my other blog.] 

 

It was a beautiful spring day, the birds chirping and flowers blooming, and the sun was slowly starting to set as the afternoon made its way to evening. I was spending time with Jesus that afternoon and I kept getting the phrase “go fishing.” I knew that was the Lord as He continued to bring this phrase to mind. I was like “why would God want me to go fishing?” I came out to finally have some time to journal about my time on the race and how I was doing. I brought my bible out for some time in scripture. I had just gone fishing the evening before in the kayak and frankly almost lost my pole several times and caught nothing. Why should I go fishing right now? 

 

The thoughts continued and I knew that’s what the Lord wanted me to do. 

 

So I went inside, I grabbed fishing poles for myself and two friends, and I came back outside with a plastic bag full of our leftover honey ham.

 

You see, dad and I had this trick of using leftover food and catching a lot of bass. Ya girl has caught bass on chicken and hotdogs in the past, so I thought I might try my luck with some leftover ham. I sat on the dock, put my journal and bible aside, and started to fish. 

 

I threw out the line. 

Release. 

Whisp through the air. 

Bloop in the water. 

Wait. 

Stillness. 

Quiet.

No bites. 

A few tangles. 

A few lost pieces of ham. 

No catch. 

 

I was about done with my fishing adventure with Jesus, but decided to cast out my line one last time. I baited the hook with a fat piece of ham, released, and launched the line in the air. It fell beneath the waters, and I waited yet again with no expectation of catching anything. 

 

As I’m about to real in, something grabs hold of my line. 

 

Something large?

Something that I can’t quite reel in with the weight and intensity on the line. 

 

I thought… “yep, caught another underwater tree. Look at me go.” 

 

But it started to grow stronger and started to go out to deeper waters. 

 

I reeled in and realized this was a battle. This was a real big fish. 

 

I continued to reel in. A tug. A pull. A drag. More reeling.

 

And would you believe, I caught a big ole bass. A white stripe bass at that!

 

I was so excited and began to dance around the dock while carrying the weight of this fish on my line. 

 

I released the fish, but still held on to the sweet moment and that feeling of excitement and adrenaline as I got the initial bite and reeled it in with the expectation of what it might be.

 

I sat down on the edge of the dock after this fish battle, reflecting on what just happened.  

 

God just wanted to spend quality time with me. To just go fishing. To be in the stillness and the waiting. For me to be obedient and to trust and listen to Him. He wanted to provide for me. 

 

How often we feel like we have to do certain things to be with the Lord when all He wants sometimes is to be invited to go fishing. To sit with us and to just be. To provide what we need. To trust that when we unleash our line into open waters, He will be in the uncertainty.

 

Sometimes, He just wants to go fishing. That’s all He wants. Just quality time with me.

Just like I valued quality time with my dad and loved being invited to go fishing.

The Lord values quality time with me and wants to be invited..

I value those sweet moments with the Lord- the waiting- and getting to know more about Him in the midst of it. 

Maybe in a lot of this stillness and waiting in the days of quarantine and uncertainty, the Lord just wants to be invited in. To rest with Him. To trust and rely on Him. To know His heart more and to spend that time with him. 

 

As fishermen and fisherwomen, we don’t always catch something. We don’t always have a large story or large fish to bring back. But is that why we go? Do we only go expecting that we catch something, and if we don’t, then we will never go fishing ever again? Or is it the small moments of fishing that make the trip?  

The peace. The still. The waters. The relationships built. The sun shining. The memories made. The journey and adventure itself. 

 

Sometimes the Lord doesn’t give us the fish right when we want it, but he wants us to be obedient and trust in the waiting. To abide in Him and just be in His presence. To make moments and memories with Him and go with Him for the adventure, not the fish. The small sweet moments and feeling the warm sunshine on your face. Just breathing in deep and being in the peaceful stillness with the Lord even for just a moment. 

 

God wants to go fishing with you too. Are you inviting Him to go with you?