Fishing with Faith

I had no idea the kind of passion Shayden had about catching a fish last Saturday. I mean, on the way up to the lake he was asking me questions about eating fish, like is it healthy, but little did I know his determination to bring one home. So we are casually hanging out have a great time when I let him know that it is time to go right? To which he exclaimes his objection. Well, this is really not out of character for him, so I was about to assert my authority and make him leave at

that moment regardless of his dislike, however, one of the nice moms that was there said to him "do you want to just cast out your net one more time?" (he had resorted to fishing with a net at that time). So of course I had to go along. But suddenly Shay was walking the opposite direction into the open field and the nice lady turned to me and said that he had told her that he needed to pray about it first. So my heart filled with pride as I turned to see my son kneeling out in the open green with his head in his lap offering a prayer that he would catch a fish.

It was in that moment that I (along with all the other adults present) resolved to help him catch a fish in any way that we knew how. He took off running toward the canoe where he had seen a few trout jumping, and told the guy on the canoe (Casey) emphatically that he had to get on that boat. After hurredly putting on a lifejacket at the insistance of Casey, they were off! Circling and circling the lake, you could see the determination in Shayden's eyes as he tried so dilligently to hold the net in just the right way.

Meanwhile the rest of us on the dock cheering him, eyes pealed, waiting in anticipation if his Faith would be rewarded. If we could have willed it, a fish would have miraculously jumped into his net. But alas, and much to our dismay, this did not happen. I was surprised, he actually took it quite well. He just walked away head hanging, obviously dissapointed. I was then left with the task I dreaded--teaching the lesson of seemingly unanswered prayers. I had to tell him that prayers don't always get answered the way we like and that doesn't mean they are not heard. I told him about times when that has happened to me. So it turned out to be a good life lesson for both of us and definitely a story worth telling! What a sweet boy I have!