Why live with regret of dreams that slipped away? Focus on the most important things, and don’t let your life be a fish story.
“Set the hook!” “Set the hook!” “Wait, now wait, wait a minute. Maybe he will bite again.”
I had jerked the pole up at the nibble I felt on my fishing line, and in a panic I had let it down again. According to my husband and expert fisherman brother-in-law, now I had probably given the line too much slack and lost the tension I had on the hook. It got away.
This steelhead was the second to get away from me this weekend. The first one was huge, really huge. It was five times the fish I had seen others reel in.
It had clamped down on my line, and as I reeled, it darted right and left and launched out of the water then lurched down again.
My husband had the net ready as the fish neared the boat. Then in a frenzied moment, it darted toward our anchor line. I stumbled sideways with the force of the moment and lost the tension I had on the rod.
The fish got tangled in the anchor line, and my trophy steelhead slipped away.
Sometimes it is hard to live with the regret of things we let slip away from our lives.
When my brother-in-law shouted “set the hook, set the hook,” what he was saying to me was that I should have gotten the fish so hooked, that it could not wiggle off, even in the heat of the moment, even when the situation became disorienting.
Set Your Hook on the Important Things
The Bible admonishes readers to “set your heart” to do its commands (Deuteronomy 32:46), to “set your heart and soul to seek the Lord your God” (1 Chronicles 22:19), and to “set your heart on the right path” (Proverbs 23:19).
To “set” our hearts, we firmly and with deliberate purpose fix our minds and affections on a decided path and goal. Sometimes situations in life get disorienting and confusing, and we lose focus.
Sometimes the boat rocks and the summer sun scorches. Goals and dreams seem too far out there to reel in. But when our determination is set like a hook, nothing–not the heat, nor the rain, nor the storms that rock the boat–will deter us from our purpose.
Why live with the regret of dreams that have slipped away, of friendships gone, relationships we could have saved? The lives we could have changed, the people we could have helped?
The life we could have lived—sounds like the one that got away.
I recently attended my uncle’s memorial service. His life story unfolded as person after person shared memories of his talent and potential. He went to Harvard, but only stayed a couple of semesters. He had such talent as an artist but did not continue.
He ran for county commissioner but gave up the race. He started several businesses, but they only lasted a few months. He didn’t want children; he was too busy.
He wanted to do many important things, but he never set his hook into any one of them. At the end of his life, my uncle had a lot of fish stories, but they were always about “the one that got away.”
Do not let the important things get away.
It is not too late to set your hook, revive that dream, forgive that friend, mend that relationship, help that person.
When it comes my time to move from this world to the next, I do not want to regret all the things I let get away, because I did not “set the hook.”
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Photo by Óscar Dejean on Unsplash
