Teaching Fish to Fly

Have you ever seen that commercial for [I think] sea world? It starts out with a whale jumping in and out of the water. Suddenly, he jumps, but this time he doesn't return to the water. He goes higher and higher and starts flying. He travel around the whole world before going back. Now, I know, a whale is not a fish despite what many people think... but bear with me here.

Before I go on, and for those of you who don't know this about me- I want to explain something about myself. Ever since I was little, God would speak to me through pictures. He'd show me meaning in the things around me. Sometimes a picture-that I couldn't come up with on my own- would form in my imagination and there would be revelation behind it. Sure He talks to me in other ways, He's taught me to listen to his voice in other things, but when I REALLY need to understand something, He gives me a picture or an analogy. (I have an analogy for almost everything. lol)

Okay, now that that's been stated, I'll move on. :)

The other night I was reading the book Every Young Woman's Battle by Shanon Ethridge and Stephen Arterburn. (Very good book) It discusses the issue of staying pure in a sex-filled world. But that's not what I'm talking about. After reading that book, I went to sleep with not only reasons for staying pure, but with the grasping of a concept that only God can bring because it wasn't very related to the book.

In the middle of the book, a quote from the movie Ever After, a retelling of Cinderella staring Drew Barrymore, popped into my head. Out of nowhere. In it, there's this part when Danielle [cinderella] is finally freed and has the chance of going to the ball, seeing the prince and telling him the truth. But she's not sure she should go. As her friends are trying to convince her, Danielle says to one person in particular, "A bird may love a fish senorae, but where would they live?" To this, he replies, "then we shall have to make you wings!"

It's the same way with us and Jesus. We should love him so much that we'd be willing to do anything. Even if it meant jumping out of this sweeping current and into a place where we can't even breathe. That's what He showed me- that we're supposed to be those fish that turn around and not just swim against the flow, but FLY!

If people notice the fish that swim upstream against the masses, how much more will they notice the fish that fly above it? The more we choose to be set apart and consecrated to Him, the more Jesus will shine through us.

But being set apart doesn't mean we should live by certain rules of do's and don't's, the things you can and can't do. We shouldn't have to have rules because we're so in love with Jesus. That His heart becomes our heart and we long to be so much with Him and so much like Him that everything else fades in comparison. He should be that real- so real that He's the only thing that we want, the one thing that consumes our minds and our hearts. So much so, that we'd be willing to lay down anything, our families, our friends, all the things we love and even our lives just to pursue Him.

But we can't do it on our own.

That's the greatest part- That if we willing to try, willing to lay it all down and have readied our hearts, He'll help us. The Holy Spirit will come along to show and guide us.

He'll teach the Fish to Fly.