The Therapy of Fishing

I look like a little girl here...ok, ok, I am still a little girl.

Yesterday, I posted about my little excursion to a new fishing spot. Today, my husband and I spent the morning fishing there. It was like therapy (of which I know nothing about, but imagine it to be this good). We woke up kind of late because Ben worked overnight. It was supposed to rain, but we were desperate to be outside and to be outside together. So, we ran to Wal-Mart for bait and Subway for lunch and hit the pond. I almost stayed in the car to read because it was pretty chilly, but I decided time with Ben was more important than being cold.

Look at that posture! My mom would be so proud.

I'm so glad I made that decision. Ben and I each caught five fish. He even caught a little pickerel. I only caught one fish last summer, so I was pretty excited. The best part was being outside away from slow-moving traffic, obnoxious PA accents, and abrasive people (In case you didn't know, PA is filled with slow-moving traffic, obnoxious accents, and abrasive people.) It's like I was filled to the brim with peace. God led us there. There's no other way to describe it. On the way home, I kept saying "I haven't been this happy in a long time," or "I can't even begin to describe how happy I am right now." Spending quality time with my husband outside away from the pressures of real life is absolutely priceless.

Trying to humanely release his pickerel. I'm sure it's floating on top of the pond now.

 One thing that really struck me was how "ugly" everything technically was. The lily pads were dead, the reeds were dead, the dam was falling apart, the sky was overcast, there was a dead fish rotting next to me. But you know what? All of that ugliness transformed into beauty for me. God allowed me to see past the ugly in order that I could find the beauty. So that rotting fish carcass became beautiful to me. Those dead reeds made the coolest sound when the wind blew through them. The overcast sky kept the people away.

What a stud-muffin!

Tomorrow I'll deal with the beautiful mess created by the worms spilling in the back of my car. Of course I just had to detail the inside of my car last Saturday. Oh the joys of perfectionism.