Patience: A reflection from fishing

For years, my family has spent one week each summer on Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota, and naturally, being on a lake and all, fishing is part of the experience. As far back as I can remember my favorite kind of fishing has been pan fishing (that’s fishing for blue gills, sun fish, perch, etc.) The reason is quite simple: instant gratification! Seriously, if you know where the prime pan fishing locations are, you maybe have to wait 20-30 seconds before you have a bite, and on top of that, it doesn’t take much finesse to land a 5 inch (or less) fish into the boat. You’re practically guaranteed to catch a multitude of fish. But there’s a downside: You never really catch anything worth writing home about. The 100% chance of catching fish coincides with the other guarantee of pan fishing: Everything you catch is going to be shrimpy.

This past week, I have tried to broaden my fishing horizons by accompanying my brother and dad on their muskie fishing ventures, something that used to bore me out of my mind. As far as lake fishing goes, muskie fishing is what separates the boys from the men, or at least that is what my interpretation of the sport has led me to believe. These things are HUGE! 40-60+ inches, 20-30+ lbs, with big teeth, of course. The fishing lures used to catch these monsters are bigger than any pan fish ever in existence. There is nothing easy about muskie fishing; it’s hardcore. There is a well circulated adage among fisherman saying that you have to cast 1,000 times before you’ll even see a muskie, let alone catch one. This is far removed from the instant gratification of pan fishing. But when you finally catch a muskie, I’m sure all the casts are worth it.

So when we were trolling one day, at about the time I was starting to doubt the existence of fish, I began to compare pan fishing with this alternative fishing method. I decided that going hours/days without catching anything other than rocks and seaweed (my specialty) and then finally catching something remarkable would be far more gratifying than catching seven bazillion pan fish any day. Getting anything worth keeping requires patience.

Meanwhile, still no fish, I sat in the boat pondering how this concept from fishing applies to life in general. It seems like we’ve always been told the cliché that patience is a virtue, but I think we often fail to realize how important it really is. When we let impatience win, the results pale in comparison with what we could have accomplished and gained if we would have stuck it out. The big things in life aren’t instantaneous, and rather than settling for the cheap thrills of right now, taking the time demanded by many of life’s pursuits and challenges is so much sweeter in the end. Making educational decisions, dealing with suffering, friendships, waiting for answered prayers, finding a future spouse, etc. are all things that shouldn’t be rushed. Rather than being impatient and cutting yourself short, just wait; have patience. It’ll take discipline, perseverance, and commitment, and it’ll be hard, but it’s totally worth it in the end.

Whenever impatience is telling you to give up, just keep casting. One day, the big one is going to bite and you’ll sure be glad you waited.