bobbers, God, and failure

I am outside with my son because he asked me out here so he can practice fishing. We are planning on going up to the mountain house in sky valley with Matt and Rachel this weekend. We are bringing our fishing poles, to the chagrin of my wife Amy.

My son is all about casting the bobber as far as he can, over trees and to the road. We have lost many bobbers and sinkers in our yard and in the surrounding trees, but that is a small price to pay for my son's happiness and his ability to learn something new.

I just thought that maybe that is the way God sees us. He lets us make minor failures, at least minor to him, so that we can learn larger and more important things. If my daughter, Julia, who is very concern with doing everything well, lost a bobber then she would feel really bad. She would give me that scared look and cover her mouth and whisper, "I'm so sorry." I would have to smile again and tell her it's OK and then give her reason why it is OK. I would have to tell her how those bobbers cost just a few cents a piece and that I can just go to the store and get more. It seems once she understands everything, then she is fine and moves on. Jonathan, however, shows no remorse. If he loses a bobber or two, it is just part of the adventure. I can almost hear him say, "you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet." He has a fierce and wild spirit and does not know when he is in trouble until someone tells him that he is. Julia assumes that if anything happens that is not part of the plan, then she is at fault and will have consequences to pay.

God does not explain everything to us. When I make a mistake, I am more like Julia than Jonathan. I sometimes cringe at how my Father views me and hope that my mess up does not make Him angry or mess up his plans. While I know He still loves me, the same way Julia knows that I still love her, we are both afraid that we have done something wrong and that someone will be disappointed in us.

We learn from our mistakes and my fear for Julia and even myself is we will become so consumed with our fear of making a mistake in front of our Father that we don't take the risks needed to learn something and grow.

There are consequences that need to be paid when a bobber is lost, but those costs, again just a few cents, pale in comparison as I watch my son try to cast his line so far, it will catch the biggest fish anyone has ever seen. And who knows, he keeps practicing, he may just land that fish. I know that there is no way he can catch the big one unless he practices and loses a few bobbers along the way. And I as his father is more than willing to buy all the bobbers he needs to make his dreams come true. Maybe God thinks the same about me.