INSPIRASUNS

Last week a friend was sharing a funny story with me about her son who is in middle school. You see, my friend knows how much I love to fish, and her son shares the passion as well. Like me, he can fish all day, every day. He can stand on a dock for hours by himself with a pole in the water. Ah yes, that would be my perfect day as well 🙂 .

Anyway, she shared a story about how, over Christmas break, they were at her parent’s house. As usual, her son had been out fishing on his grandparent’s dock. Dinner time rolled around and he came in and took his place at the table. Everyone had begun to eat when this little guy stops and says, “uh oh”. He reaches down to pull a live shrimp, (bait of course), out of his pocket 🙂 . Well, it gets better because little did he realize there were 2 of those bad boys in his pocket. My friend found the latter in her washing machine several days later!

Of course I couldn’t help but laugh at this story, but I also told her how wonderful it is that he loves this hobby so much. She then shared that he is teaching himself this skill. He watches Youtube videos, he has begun to watch a professional fisherman, he gobbles up knowledge wherever he can. He can tie his own rig, he’s researching what lures to use. Whenever he can, he’s outside fishing.

My friend then share with me that her son came to her the other day to tell her, “I think I’ll sell my Xbox so I can use the money to buy more fishing equipment”. What?! Did I just hear that correctly? I told my friend how awesome I thought that was, and wow, what a powerful lesson. Her son has found a passion and quite honestly a skill, a survival skill, that he is willing to invest himself in. This child is willing to sell what was at one time his most valued toy to further his passion for fishing. Notice I didn’t say he just walked away from his Xbox and asked his mom and dad to buy him what he wanted, no, he understands the value of selling one of his possessions to pursue something else.

Of course, there is another wonderful side to this story. The fact that my friend’s son is outside whenever he can be. He’s not behind that Xbox every waking moment. He is in the outdoors, again, learning a skill, understanding nature, and letting his mind grow. He isn’t wrapped up in a video game that is not reality.

I think we can all learn a lot from this child. Whether he understands why he has certainly figured out the importance of following his heart in what makes him happy. He understands that to follow that dream he may need to change priorities or make sacrifices. He was willing to do just that, to sell the toy that brought him so much happiness originally, to further the true passion he loves. Lastly, he doesn’t let little setbacks or failures stop him. If he doesn’t catch a single fish, it’s ok, he regroups and comes back another day.

Just a little fun story I wanted to share today. I hope it makes you smile, but more importantly, I hope it makes you ponder the lessons it provided. What’s in your heart, and what’s your passion. Are you following it?

Have a great day friends, I gotta go research some fishing videos 🙂 .

Proverbs 20:11
Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.