The River with All Fishes
There was a fishing competition held in the Village of Dreams. The first one to bring back all the different kids of fishes in the list would win. A special condition—they had to be fresh.
Tom and Ben, childhood best friends, were both taking part. Tom was so excited. He wanted to win Ben in the competition. He went around asking the villagers for directions, and they told him about far off ponds and lakes where specific fishes could be found.
Tom hiked for a long time to reach the pond of confidence. It was rumored that many red fishes congregated there. He happily caught a few and left.
The next location, the lake of honesty, was very far away. It took a few days journey to reach there and the red fishes he caught were turning bad because of the intense heat.
He caught some blue fishes at the lake of honesty, and headed off for the waterfall of love. Tom felt so nauseous because the red fishes were rotting and the blue fishes were also spoiling faster than usual. Tom quickly caught a few pink fishes from the waterfall and left.
He went on to a few more locations to catch the other colored fishes stated in the list.
Looking at the time and date, Tom panicked and hurried back to the village before the last moments of the competition.
Almost all the fishes Tom caught had rotted and bred worms so he had to throw those away. He came back in tears and just as he reached the competition booth, Ben walked past him with a basketful of fresh, colorful fishes.
“How did you do it, Ben? I went to so many places and tried my best to catch the fishes, but every time I reached a new place, the old fishes would rot,” Tom said in dismay.
Ben smiled and replied, “Oh, I know of a river that has all the fishes stated on the list. So I just rested until the last day of the competition, and caught them all at the same time at the river. I just came back from there.”
Tom couldn’t believe his ears. He was busy taking advice from so many people to visit too many locations that he made it impossible for himself to win the competition.
——
Moral of the short story: Trying to cultivate different good personality traits individually is a waste of time. Once you change your focus to working on another, you will lose the first one because the flesh’s ability to mimic the fruits of the Holy Spirit is limited.
Jesus is like the river with all different kinds of fishes. Just rest in Him and you’ll find everything you need to win in life.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit will manifest in your life when you just focus on how Jesus’ finished work at the cross has made you perfectly righteous, and when you just want to be led by the Holy Spirit every day.
“But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 WEB)
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