Laurel Bradley, Author
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out of the blue

6/21/2012

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Not so long ago, I was standing in the back yard when an eighteen inch fish fell out of the sky. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or my cat.

I searched the clear blue sky while my cat surveyed the scene from the safety of the garage.

I’ve read stories about water spouts or tornadoes that create funnels of water that empty lakes and ponds to later drop the lake, fish and all, miles away. But there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and there was just the fish, no water.

The fish was dead, but appeared whole and undamaged. I flipped it over with my foot. Two deep wounds marred the silvery perfection of the other side. Talon marks?

As I contemplated the wounds, an angry screech and raucous caws filled the air. An eagle swooped into view pursued by two crows. Everything became clear.

I scooped up my cat, who had decided fish falling from the sky was too wonderful a thing to ignore, and headed inside giving the eagle a chance to retrieve its catch.

This strange event made me think. How many times had I cast a lure into the lake in hope of catching a fish this size? How many times had my cat stared longingly into the aquarium at the meal that was both too near and too far? I’ve never caught a fish that large and my cat has never caught one of my finned friends. Most of the time things we want don’t just fall from the sky. Most of the time we have to work hard for what we get, thinking we deserve what we get, or even more, because we’ve earned it. But what if it’s all gift? If all we receive in this world in essence falls out of the blue into our undeserving hands.

Fish from heaven. Not something harried from unwilling hands, but gift. It makes me think and gives me hope. I am thankful that I don’t always get what I deserve—I have a wonderful husband, five fabulous kids, a sweet, daughter-in-law to be, health and a whole lot of happiness and success. Do I “deserve” it? Can anyone? What are the criteria for that?

We all are given things we don’t deserve—health/illness, wealth/poverty, joy/sadness, love/loneliness, success/frustrated desires… If everything (good or bad) is a gift, something given to us that we do not earn or “deserve”, then it’s not what we get but how we handle it that matters. Are we thankful like my cat? “Meow! Fish.” Or do we complain, like I did having to pick up and bury the dead fish when the eagle gave up on retrieving it?

Fish from heaven. How we react to life and the things that come to us out of the blue matters.

It’s amazing the thoughts a single fish can make trigger.

What do you think?Not so long ago, I was standing in the back yard when an eighteen inch fish fell out of the sky. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or my cat.

I searched the clear blue sky while my cat surveyed the scene from the safety of the garage.

I’ve read stories about water spouts or tornadoes that create funnels of water that empty lakes and ponds to later drop the lake, fish and all, miles away. But there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and there was just the fish, no water.

The fish was dead, but appeared whole and undamaged. I flipped it over with my foot. Two deep wounds marred the silvery perfection of the other side. Talon marks?

As I contemplated the wounds, an angry screech and raucous caws filled the air. An eagle swooped into view pursued by two crows. Everything became clear.

I scooped up my cat, who had decided fish falling from the sky was too wonderful a thing to ignore, and headed inside giving the eagle a chance to retrieve its catch.

This strange event made me think. How many times had I cast a lure into the lake in hope of catching a fish this size? How many times had my cat stared longingly into the aquarium at the meal that was both too near and too far? I’ve never caught a fish that large and my cat has never caught one of my finned friends. Most of the time things we want don’t just fall from the sky. Most of the time we have to work hard for what we get, thinking we deserve what we get, or even more, because we’ve earned it. But what if it’s all gift? If all we receive in this world in essence falls out of the blue into our undeserving hands.

Fish from heaven. Not something harried from unwilling hands, but gift. It makes me think and gives me hope. I am thankful that I don’t always get what I deserve—I have a wonderful husband, five fabulous kids, a sweet, daughter-in-law to be, health and a whole lot of happiness and success. Do I “deserve” it? Can anyone? What are the criteria for that?

We all are given things we don’t deserve—health/illness, wealth/poverty, joy/sadness, love/loneliness, success/frustrated desires… If everything (good or bad) is a gift, something given to us that we do not earn or “deserve”, then it’s not what we get but how we handle it that matters. Are we thankful like my cat? “Meow! Fish.” Or do we complain, like I did having to pick up and bury the dead fish when the eagle gave up on retrieving it?

Fish from heaven. How we react to life and the things that come to us out of the blue matters.

It’s amazing the thoughts a single fish can make trigger.

What do you think?

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