Finley the Fish

This morning I set out to change my beta, Finley’s, water. It was getting kind of murky and had a suspicious grunge building up along the water line. There were bits of unidentifiable objects floating on the surface but Finley just swam around oblivious to the declining condition of his home.

I got a big plastic bowl and dumped him into it, dirty water and all. He doesn’t seem to mind this part. I emptied his fish bowl and rinsed it well, scrubbing the water line of the build-up of who knows what. I agitated the rocks in the water to clean them as well and the silly leaf he sometimes hides under and even naps on. I filled the clean bowl with clean water and dropped in the tablet that would fizz and remove the chlorine from Finley’s new water, making it safe for him to live and breathe in.

His bowl had been made ready by me, his master and now came the part that makes my dear little fish very nervous. I dipped the green net into his temporary holding tank and Finley commenced to darting around looking for a way of escape. Of course, there not being one, I finally corner him (if you can corner a fish in a round bowl) and he has no choice but to submit to me by way of the net. I tell him “Finley, chill. Your bowl is sparkling clean and has all the gunk removed. You’ll love it!” But even in those few nano-seconds that he is suspended in midair as he is transferred to his clean new environment he fights and struggles to be free. He would literally throw himself out of the grasp of my hand on the net if I did not cover him there.

Wow! Aren’t we like that with the Lord? He removes us from the nastiness of the world, often against our will. He prepares a clean new world and even covers us during the transition from the old to the new. I’m like Finley! I can hear the Lord saying, “Vonnie, chill. I’ve removed all the gunk from your world. Now, relax, breathe, enjoy, live, thrive!” But it is uncomfortable moving out of the familiar; even if the familiar is not all the Lord wants for me. Come to think of it, the familiar is rarely what the Lord wants for me. He regularly transitions me from one level to the next in some area of my life. I may resist (most often I do) and it is never comfortable but even as I struggle, He lovingly covers me with His hand. He knows what waits for me; He knows what’s best for me. He has prepared living water for me and it is good.