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They were
surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry
fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to
fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of
catching fish. They got excited about fishing!
Someone
suggested that they needed a philosophy of
fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined
fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They
developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then
they realized that they had been going at it
backwards. They had approached fishing from the
point of view of the fisherman, and not from the
point of view of the fish. How do fish view the
world? How does the fisherman appear to the
fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all
good things to know. So hey began research
studies, and attended conferences on fishing.
Some traveled to faraway places to study
different kinds of fish with different habits.
Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had
yet gone fishing.
So a committee
was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective
fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the
committee needed to determine priorities. A
priority list of fishing places was posted on
bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls.
But still, no one was fishing. A survey was
launched to find out why. Most did not answer
the survey, but from those who did, it was
discovered that some felt called to study fish,
a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several
to go around encouraging the fishermen. What
with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they
just simply didn't have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a
newcomer to the Fisherman's Fellowship. After
one stirring meeting of the Fellowship, he went
fishing and caught a large fish. At the next
meeting, he told his story and was honored for
his catch. He was told that he had a special
"gift of fishing." He was then scheduled to
speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell
how he did it.
With all the
speaking invitations and his election to the
board of directors of the Fisherman's
Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go
fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and
empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line
once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned
from the board, and he said to a friend, "Let's
go fishing." They did, just the two of them, and
they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman's
Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful,
but the fishers were few!
~
Anonymous
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