Try a little harder

Yesterday I went fishing and it was one of those days where you have to work hard all day long just to catch a decent load of fish. They were not jumping in the boat just because we arrived on the scene if you know what I mean, and I had to go all out in order to salvage the day. I searched for them in all of my usual haunts and then all of the not so usual haunts and beyond. We ended up the day catching a boatload of fish, but we must have driven 150 miles in order to do it. I was exhausted and went to bed as soon as I had dinner and woke up sore all over this morning from the pounding waves.

I was thinking about this fishing trip this morning and it reminded me of a friend of mine who is the best fisherman I know. He taught me to have a plan A and a backup plan B and a plan C and a plan D and prepare for everything. We might have targeted sailfish, but if they were not biting we would switch to tuna, and then permit, or if all else failed we would fish for amber jacks, but we would catch fish every time. If we had stayed with sailfish we would not have caught anything. I cannot remember ever going home empty handed when fishing with him.

It is in much the same fashion that I think we should pursue our goals and dreams in this world. If we want to enjoy supreme success and it does not just drop in our lap because we are there and want it, we have to give it *supreme* effort and sometimes work much harder than we would like. Also we must understand that things may not always work out exactly as we had originally envisioned, but that we can still succeed mightily provided we have thought about it and have developed alternate plans and have prepared to implement them.

Whether trying to win souls or a fat contract award, this strategy can make most anyone a winner. As an epilog, I talked with a friend who fished yesterday and they caught little or nothing. He asked where I caught mine and I told him of my long day and he could not believe that I expended that much effort for a mere fishing trip. Hmmmm. I cannot think like that

Proverbs20:4
The lazy man will not plow
because of the winter;
he will beg during harvest and
have nothing.