Sophie's Beta

Sophie pleads with us when we go to Walmart to go “look at the fish!” So, we go by them, she looks and oohs and ahhs.  As a result we decided it would be interesting to get a Beta fish for her.  She is excited about her fish.  It’s name is “Blue” – can you tell why?

 

Years ago the boys had a red Beta fish. It was in one of those bowls with a plant on top. A friend (Rose) came to visit from Canada .  I left her with the boys to run a quick errand up town and when I returned she said the boys made her feed the fish because they said she had to – so she did.  Then she asked me “where is the fish?”  We had a good laugh when I told her the fish had died three weeks earlier and the boys still hadn’t noticed, yet they made her feed it.  The novelty of having a fish had worn off.  So when it died I just didn’t mention it to the boys.

 

Isn’t is human nature – we like the new and exciting, yet once we get used to something, it can become routine, mundane.....we see parents this way, little babies are fun and exciting, but eventually they are work and it takes routine of loving with works to help them grow up.  Some children become the red Beta fish – not cared for by their parents until it is too late.  Or is it also like some marriages, routine – taken for granted, the excitement long gone after the honeymoon is over.  Commitment, dedication and hard work just don’t rise up for some.

 

So Mr Blue – we’ll care for you, you may make it or not, but we’ll love you while you are here.  I want my life to be like the newness of Blue – exciting and full of anticipation for what each day God brings me, but aware that routine is still OK!  There may be “red” fish in my life that come and go that I won’t miss – that I don’t deny.  But there are others I greatly miss in pain that doesn’t ease.

 

Lord, don’t let me take for granted the people in my life, the goodness you have given to me and the future before me.  Help me to appreciate all you place in my path, from the Walmart fish to the children and husband you have blessed me with as well.  Help me to do my best for your glory.

 

Psalm 8

¹ O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens.

 ² From the lips of children and infants
       you have ordained praise ^[b]
       because of your enemies,
       to silence the foe and the avenger.

 ³ When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place,

 ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
       the son of man that you care for him?

 ⁵ You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings ^[c]
       and crowned him with glory and honor.

 ⁶ You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
       you put everything under his feet:

 ⁷ all flocks and herds,
       and the beasts of the field,

 ⁸ the birds of the air,
       and the fish of the sea,
       all that swim the paths of the seas.

 ⁹ O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!