My "pic of the day" was inspired by the thought of fishing...more as an analogy though that popped in my mind as I walked across campus this afternoon. The closest picture I had of fishing was Penarth Pier in Wales (a pic that I took in Dec. '05). Following another 10 hr day, I have the following analogy to share below.
Imagine starting to fish alongside everyone else and one by one everyone else starts catching fish, but you don't. You try adjusting everything you can think of (the length of your line cast, type of bait, your location) but nothing seems to be working. Overtime everyone else has left the pier with multiple "trophies", while you strive to make the first catch. Chalking it up to bad luck, you try again, then again and again, only to come up empty handed. Meanwhile everyone else continues to catch more and more. Time passes, and your inability to catch anything starts to effect all parts of your life. Suddenly, you no longer can be a part of seemingly normal activities that others take for granted. This includes the community fish fry, contest for the biggest catch, money from fish sales, friendly banter between fellow fishermen, ect.). Many folks offer encouragement but they don't understand to what extent this "drought" is effecting you and your family.
Weeks turn into months and suddenly months turn into years and still no fish. You've watched as your friends have caught trophy winning fish; or several in a row; or have been given fish by those who have caught too many to keep...but still you have not been a recipient of a single fish. Overtime this has effected your quality of life, without money from fishing needed to survive you find yourself in a never ending cycle of wearing yourself ragged just to sustain the resources you currently have. At the same time you find yourself having to cut back on the amount of bait you use, having to duct tape your fishing rod together, having barely enough fishing line from having to cut out the bad places and tie the sections together; and not have the fishing tools necessary because you can't afford to replace them. At the same time you see folks that you were once on par with arrive to the pier with brand new top of the line poles having more bait than they can possibly use, and sporting all the newest fishing gadgets. These same people tell you not to worry about your recent bad luck and that it will change. It's easy for them to say as they aren't living day-to-day with the repercussions of not being able to catch any fish. Nor do they know of the other internal hardships that you've had to endure coinciding all at the same time. Hardships that others have not had to endure in their life, and combined with hardships that should just come one at a time over a lifetime not all at once.
During this same time, you encounter many other fisherman who don't have any sensitivity for your situation and who continually brag about their catches, tell you about all the fishing equipment they have just purchased and criticize you for being disappointed and down. Slowly overtime, your fishing supplies dwindle so much and you've lost so much money that you barely have the resources to keep trying. Your once long fishing pole is now a distant memory to the reality of your short, nub of a pole. You ration the bait to make it last, and you fishing gear is out of date while your clothes are starting to wear thin in places and tear. You wonder why you keep trying when nothing changes, when there aren't any breakthroughs and when no fish will bite. You feel a couple nibbles at your line, and you excitedly reel it in full of hope but there is nothing. You think about how hard you work and how many hours you put into this just to end each day in exhaustion while barely earning enough to survive and pay the bills.
You look up and see others moving forward: affording new fishing tackle and gear, new homes, vacations; being able to afford weddings and families; earning promotions from fishermen to bigger titles based on the amount of fish they've caught ; ect. Meanwhile, treating yourself to the smallest of treats (that others take for granted and consume daily) becomes impossible. At the same time you keep getting hammered with bad news, hardships and disappointments. You ponder what else you can do or what you are doing wrong (while wondering what else can possibly go wrong). You ask yourself when does this change? You become exhausted from preserving, working hard and striving to gain nothing. You realize how long and hard you are working for nothing except to barely keep your head above water. When does something good happen? It becomes a lot like treading water and we all know how fast one tires and can no longer sustain treading. Slowly you realize that your stamina is fading and you can't keep up this pace. Something needs to change, but what? How do you renew perseverance and hope?
"Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." James 5: 10-11 (NIV).
I'm also reminded in a daily devotional that, "A tunnel of testing can produce a shining testimony." http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml. I'm ready for my tunnel to open to a sunny sky!
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