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Entering my house after a fishing trip, my wife asked, “Got anything?” “No, they are too small”, I responded. My kids also asked, “Daddy, did you catch anything?” “No. It is not a good day for me.” I answered.  The truth is I did catch a few “undersize” ones and some “undesired” ones. I released them in observation of the regulations of DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) agency – catching is only allowed in certain species and certain size of fish at certain period.

The other day when I was fishing on a shore bank of a lake, a mother and her daughter came to where I was fishing and asked to fish alongside with me. Her son with his father was on a boat ready to head out toward the lake. I asked the son, “What kind of fish are you targeting?” “Everything!”, he responded. I smiled and responded, “Good luck”.

You may think that I must be a fishing junkie because I kept talking about fishing. Well, not quite there yet. As I spent more time on it, I find it has many lessons left to be learned. So, please bear with me and don’t feel bored. Because, one of the important lessons of fishing is a training of “patience” or “loooong suffering” 🙂 From the two events that I have experienced, there are life lessons that I would like to share with you.

Oftentimes, people think fishing is all about catching many big fish from a trip. This impression probably is instilled from watching TV Fishermen show, as the show promotes the excitement of catching big fish. The bad is it distorts the reality. If fishing is only about catching big fish, then, you will have your share of rejection – catch nothing.  In fact, an important aspect of fishing is to have a right mind set in between “gain” and “loss” 得失之心.  If you are too eager to catch fish from a trip, then, you may find yourself disappointed after the trip. On the other hand, when your intention of fishing is to relax and to enjoy the environment, then you could easily cope with the feel of rejection. This is a lesson of “How to let go”.  One of my colleagues at work just spent a week long of vacation in camping and fishing around local mountain area. His result is nothing but a small trout. He told me that he is not regret in spending time in relaxing and enjoying the beautiful natural environment – this is exactly the mindset I admire.

My dear brothers and sisters, there could be many milestones in our life journey. Some of them may be so important that we are very eager to reach, while some may not. When you think success is an absolute requirement for certain milestone, you may also need to be ready for any unexpected since the gain and the loss are so close to each other. My experience to cope with frustration of failure or rejection is to learn how to “Let Go and let God”.

Jesus taught us in the Gospels that, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 因為凡要救自己生命的、〔生命或作靈魂下同〕必喪掉生命．凡為我喪掉生命的、必得著生命。人若賺得全世界、賠上自己的生命、有甚麼益處呢．人還能拿甚麼換生命呢。(Matthew 16:25-26)” This is a very important aspect of gain and loss. Only when we realize that what is the “real gain” then we will learn what the “real loss” in our life is. Hope we all can learn from it.