lessons

I’m grateful for the lessons I learned while fishing…

We spent the last few days at my parent’s home.  They still live in the place where I grew up.  It’s always nice to go home and see some of the people and places that I grew up with.

For the past couple of months, my dad has been talking to our 4 year old and telling him that he wanted to take him fishing.  My little boy has been so excited about this, and has asked about it for weeks.  We finally had the opportunity to come home and have Grandpa take us in the mountains to go fishing.  This picture of my daughter is like a shadow of me when I was younger and fishing in one of my dad’s favorite places.

My dad has always loved fishing, and we spent a lot of time in the mountains as I was growing up.  We would go camping and fishing high in the mountains, where we could escape from the summer heat and bask in the beauties of creation.  My dad’s favorite fishing spots were usually ponds that were tucked high in the mountains and not the easiest places to get to.  Although I didn’t always love sitting for hours at the side of the lake or pond with my pole extended out while waiting for a fish to bite, I did come to appreciate the value of sitting quietly and pondering.  When I was younger I didn’t understand how my dad could sit so patiently for such a long time waiting to catch a fish.  But as I grew up, I came to value the lessons my dad was teaching me in those moments of waiting; lessons of patience, pondering, enjoying peace and the wonders of nature.  These are valuable lessons far greater than learning how to become a fisherman, and they are lessons that I believe are needed in life now more than ever.

We live in a very busy world filled with voices screaming at us from all angles.  It’s easy to get caught up in the busyness of daily life and pulled into the many uses of technology.  Although there are a lot of benefits to living in the world we have today, I feel that we are missing some of the key benefits to bring us a healthy and balanced life; lessons of patience, pondering, enjoying peace and the wonders of nature.

I want my children to learn these valued lessons now so that they can incorporate them into their lives as they travel their own roads.  Taking them to the places I went to as a child is very fulfilling for me.  It serves to teach these lessons to them, as well as reminding me how important it is to keep these things in my own life.  I can’t always go back to those places where I went as a child, but I can remember them, write about them, and talk to my children about them.  I can also find new places in nature to explore and places where I can ponder and take my children and try to teach them the valuable lessons that I learned when I was their age.

Thank you, Dad, for taking me fishing!