I don’t know if she will remember.
This pretty, perfect day.
Years from now.
I hope I will.
The predicted storm didn’t come, there was no rain and the sun was warm and friendly. Cool breezes refreshed us coming across the pond where we were fishing.
Today, our daughter-in-law, Jayme, her daughter — our youngest granddaughter — Addie Sue, and I spent the afternoon fishing.
Addie is, as she said, “kinda serious” about her fishing. She loves catching fish! Regardless the kind, “It doesn’t matter if it’s big or little — it’s just fun to catch them!” she explained to me. “I love fishing!”
She kept us busy keeping bait on her hook as the little bream quickly snatched the hot dog, worm or Cheetos off her hook. Some got away. Some, she reeled in, which we kept a while in the cooler until we poured them back into the pond.
When her little fishing rod bent down as she reeled in a larger fish, we were excited for her, as she kept count of her catch. We left the big pond when the fish stopped biting.
We hadn’t fished in the little pond in front of our home, but we had transferred some of our catch to it for several years. “Let’s fish the little pond,” Addie Sue suggested. “It’s shady and cool here.”
So, we did.
The fish were hungry, and almost as soon as her hook went underwater she was catching little fish and several larger ones. “I don’t want to stop,” she said as the day dimmed.
The breeze was chilly now and the scent of honeysuckle on the cedar tree beside us began to fill the air. I’d ask her, “Ready to stop or one more worm?”
“One more,” she’d say with a smile, “a big one!”
Over and over she cast her bait out, and over and over she caught all sizes of fish. I didn’t want to stop her until she wanted to call it a day, and finally we had used the last fat worm. We figured she had caught about 30 fish over four-and-a-half hours.
We, as Christians, are called to be “fishers of men.” When Jesus was “walking beside the Sea of Galilee,” he saw some fishermen. It was Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. He said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 4:18-19). They did!
Do we have the enthusiasm Addie Sue has as we are fishers of men? Do we never want to stop?
Do we want to bring all we can, big or little, whatever kind to Jesus?
Let’s don’t delay casting out, and keep trying for one more!
