Cutting Bait And Starting Over

After our neighbors had great success fishing in our two ponds last week, Danny and I just had to go down and try for ourselves. We've been super busy with craft shows and our Etsy shop lately, so fishing took a back burner. This is a terrible problem since the ponds are just a 30-second walk away.

I hadn't been fishing very long when my reel wouldn't cast at all. I had somehow created the worst knot of fishing line I'd ever seen. It wasn't too tight to begin with, but the more I tried to untangle it, the worse it became. Soon there were two knots pulled so tight that I knew I wasn't going to be able to get them out.

Danny took a look and, after assessing the damage, decided it was time to cut bait and start over. He'd already pulled my line free from some under-water debris, and I'd freed it from the tree above the little pond, so I had no argument. It only took a couple of minutes for him to clip the line, remove the snarled mess and reattach the hook and lure. I had spent about 10 minutes trying to untangle it, and it took just a fraction of that time to replace it.

The results were almost immediate. Soon I had my first fish of the evening, and Danny had his right after that. We weren't as successful as we'd hoped, but we had so much fun that it really didn't matter. Imagine if I had let him clip the line sooner - think about how many more fish I might have caught if I hadn't tried to fix it on my own.

The spiritual application for that experience was pretty clear as well: you can waste your time and energy fighting against circumstances that you can't change, or you can cut bait, turn the situation over to God completely and watch as He claims the victory for you.

... let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. Deuteronomy 20:3-4

God is poised, ready to step in when we hand over the difficulties in our lives. He doesn't expect us to struggle with everything ourselves until we're at the end of our rope - He wants us to turn it all over to Him at the beginning. Think about how much we can accomplish, and much better our relationship with Him would be, if we weren't so prideful. It's so much smarter to let God have control instead of asking for help and forgiveness later when we're in the thick of things.

Is there something in your life that needs to be cut away and handed over to the Lord? I pray today will be the day we all set aside our prideful, selfish hearts and let Him start a new work in us. One that's free of tangles and ready to be used.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more