I was looking through some past journals and blogs that my friends and I had and I read this on my best friend’s blog one day.
Two men went fishing. One was an experienced fisherman, the other wasn’t. Every time the experienced fisherman caught a big fish, he put it in his ice chest to keep it fresh. Whenever the inexperienced fisherman caught a big fish, he threw it back. The experienced fisherman watched this go on all day and finally got tired of seeing the man waste good fish. “Why do you keep throwing back all the big fish you catch?” he asked.
The inexperienced fisherman replied, “I only have a small frying pan.”
Sometimes, like that fisherman, we throw back the big plans, big dreams, big jobs, big opportunities that… [come to] us. Our faith is too small. We laugh at that fisherman who didn’t figure out that all he needed was a bigger frying pan, yet how ready are we to increase the size of our faith?
Whether it’s a problem or a possibility, God will never give you anything bigger than you can handle. That means we can confidently walk into anything God brings our way.
I realized how true it is that sometimes, we miss certain rare opportunities due to a lack of faith in ourselves. But maybe it’s not only the lack of faith in ourselves — maybe the lack of faith in others? Is it the fear of risking too much and losing support from friends or even worse, family, because we feel we are being selfish while on our way to reaching new heights? Perhaps the inexperienced fisherman felt that his family would not like the idea of having a bigger frying pan, and so he figured he shouldn’t risk it.
This is a very valid fear and I’m sure has unfortunately gotten the better of many in history, keeping them from bettering the world through their work. I can’t necessarily give you an example from history that shows how fear of losing support kept someone from achieving new goals. There are, however, many examples where certain individuals overcame their fear and came out on top, with their family and friends supporting them to some extent, if not for the entire journey to success. Such examples are Sri Ramakrishna and Sharada Devi, who were the support for each other in their quest to spiritually uplift and to serve others; Kasturba Gandhi (wife of Mohandas Gandhi), who not only helped in the political protests but also took the role of her husband when he was imprisoned.
These great men and women had achieved such greatness through faith — in god, in each other and in themselves. Though I agree that it is good to question faith and to ensure sincerity in the faith others have in us, it may not be helpful to doubt the faith of others in us. This, along with lack of faith in ourselves, will keep us grounded, preventing us from realizing our aspirations and achieving our goals.
So go out and get that massive frying pan as soon as you can because as we all make our way through life, there will be much bigger fish to fry!
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One Comment
Nice post, Anish.
As you mention, faith isn’t the only barrier. Sometimes there’s a personal cost of achieving success. To continue with the example of Gandhi, the movie Gandhi, My Father portrays this oft-overlooked aspect of his life. In many ways, there is a tradeoff you make when frying bigger fish.
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