Proportions


     Since the weather, water levels, and some sort of cosmic conspiracy is preventing me from fishing, I am spending time at my vise tying flies for an outing that has to happen soon.
          There is an art to tying flies. It is not as complicated as you might think, but it takes a life-time to master. It can be as simple as wrapping thread on a hook. It can be so complicated that only the very best – with a huge bank account to buy the exotic materials – ever attempt to tie them.
          The primary goal: to trick fish.
          I have taught several fly tying classes over the years. The first thing I teach students is “Do not crowd the eye of the hook.” I say it often, hoping that repetition will cause the mantra to sink in.
          Sure enough, the first attempts a student makes end up with too much material at the head of the fly. In other words, they have crowded the eye to the point there isn’t enough room on the hook to finish the fly.
          It is a matter or proportions. When the proportions get out of whack – to much wing, tail too long, thorax too big – then the fly ceases to be what it could be.
          In theological terms, we are created with potential to do good things. Some of us even manage to achieve great things. However, when we fail to pay attention to the “proportions” in our lives, we end up something other than what we could be.
          Take the parent who spends so much time pursuing a career that downtime is needed; golf, hunting, fishing, bowling, whatever. The disproportionate amount of time and energy spent working leads to trying to compensate with hobbies. And suddenly we find the family is suffering. We have crowded the eye.
          My advice to students is to take a razor and cut all of the material off the hook and begin again. Students balk at that at first. It seems like a waste of time and material. Until they realize the hook is the foundation. Usually, returning to the “foundation” and beginning again leads to a fly worth the effort.
          Forgiveness is the tool we use to remove the excesses from our lives and return to the foundation. There to begin rebuilding a life worth living. One with better proportions.
          May God bless us all,
          Doug

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Welcome!

This is Phase 1 of my new blog. The stated purpose of this blog is to share spiritual reflections that arise from fly fishing. Having just completed a two-year interim as pastor at Holiday Island Presbyterian Church, I have returned to retirement and the pursuit of fishing. Although I would never compare myself to the Apostle Peter, I remember a passage from  John 21:1-7a (NIV) Shortly after the death of Jesus, Peter returned to fishing.  "I t happened this way:   2  Simon Peter, Thomas  (also known as Didymus [ b ] ), Nathanael  from Cana in Galilee,  the sons of Zebedee,  and two other disciples were together.   3  “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.  4  Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.  5  He called out to them,   “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”  “No,” they answered. 6  He said,
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