Big Fish In A Little Pond

Yesterday morning after enjoying our Thursday ritual of breakfast with some amazing kids from MHS, I was done with Bagels around 7:45, and the stores I needed to go to did not open til 9. I didn't even need to drop any kids off at school, like I usually do. Since I was already in Mishawaka, and it had to have been in the 60's, I thought I would go to Beutter Park, and sit on my favorite bench at the beginning of the waterfalls, by the reflective sculptures for some quiet time.

The Third seat from the left is where I usually sit. (The benches are on the far right.)

I wandered over to favorite bench, which is away from the main pathways, as the ducks were still sleeping on the edge of the water, and the geese were beginning to wake up. I noticed the splashing sound once in a while that disrupted the still of the morning. The sun had not even come up at this point, and the park lights were still lit. As I opened my purse Bible to Proverbs and as I began to read I kept finding myself distracted by random thoughts or a goose honking loudly, and the occasional splash of a fish as the water rushed past the cascading waterfalls. The splashing sound seemed to come with greater frequency as the sun began to rise. Then I would turn back to my reading.

The splashing was becoming a distraction at this point and, I looked up to see fins moving above water.  The fish were well over a foot each, and I realized they were flopping around and fighting the swift current to stay where they were and not go on over to the next level of the falls. This part of the park I was enjoying includes a man made river race, where the water had been channeled away from the river to power the Ball Band/Uniroyal factories years ago. This unnatural part of the river, caused the fish struggle, as they had to flop over the cement curves of the race.

As the flopping continued, I got up and walked over to observe the struggle. I couldn't help but think of how much these silly fish were struggling to get to the next place, just to do it all over again. I thought, if only the fish would just give in to the flow of the current, they could just glide along the water they would eventually make it safely back to where the channel flows back into the river. But at every point, the fish again struggled and resisted, before they finally flowed over the falls. And then I thought of my life, and the things I am begging God for.

How often we struggle and fight against the current as we are so close to the point of freedom from what keeps us captive. Just as a flopping fish struggles to swim upstream, we fight with everything in us to have it our way. But surrender, as I could see yesterday, would make the journey so much more enjoyable, and allow the struggle to end so much sooner.