Home repairs had my head spinning lately, and now I saw a downed palm tree in the yard. The last thing I needed was another problem to deal with. I needed a break.
Sometimes a drive along the ocean could distract me from my worries. But today my hands gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white. God, help me feel less overwhelmed. My stomach rumbled. With all my worrying I’d forgotten to eat lunch.
I pulled into a little restaurant on Flagler Beach and took a seat by the window. Children raced along the shore, sloshing buckets of sandy water. Below the long pier, a fisherman stood knee-deep in ocean water seining for bait.
He caught several small fish in quick succession, tossing them into a bucket at his feet. As he looked back out at the ocean, a fish jumped out of the bucket and back into the water. A second fish followed. Then a third.
This was the great fish escape! One by one every single fish jumped back in the ocean while the fisherman adjusted his rod without a clue.
I burst out laughing, then felt a bit guilty. What about the poor fisherman? He had to catch his bait all over again. He can do it, I thought. It would just take hard work and patience—the same things I needed to solve my own problems.
Home repairs, toppled palm trees, runaway fish. With God’s help—and a sense of humor—there was nothing I couldn’t handle.
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