DEAD SALMON CAN ONLY GO DOWN STREAM
I have remembered hearing this in a sermon about 20 yrs ago. At the time ,I was struggling with some hurtful things done by several people . And ,well you know ...sometimes you just want to say I QUIT, not long after I was challenged a lot by our teens...now I feel very blessed with such wonderful kids, but as you know , even if you have great kids or know great kids, they do have their off days...if you can't remeber such , then look at your own growing up years, did you ever drive your folks to the edge of a cliff and kinda push them to see if they would go over the edge ????
So why am I remembering this sermon now , and sharing about trying kid days ??? I mean, really, it has been years since the last child still at home ,moved on to start their own family....I mean, you do the best job you can to raise your kids and the very nerve...they leave!!!! Usually this is a good sign though :-). I mean ,it generally indicates a job well done. Your kids move onto adulthood, pick up their harness and start pulling their own responsibility "wagon"... hmmm.....later they can think of dead salmon !!!
For some odd reason, this mulling mind of mine, latched onto the dead salmon....I had been searching high and low for something, the past few days. I've often been amazed ,at how whatever you seem to need ,is no where to be found. Amazingly just the day before you would trip over it 47 bazillion times....Well I just found it, and then lost it again ,while I replaced the items disturbed for the search. Then proceeded to lose it, find it and lose it about 4 times within about a half hour....I wanted to shout I QUIT, however I didn't as I would have caused my husband to wake up. Poor guy he had gone to bed early, since he was feeling sick......... Earlier today I had already spent several hours on phone hold time of various sorts wanting to again yell I QUIT>>>>until , the fun side of me stood up and stretching over to touch my toes , I pretended to be a monkey hanging upside down...eee ee eee........... so in "drifts" the dead Salmon sermon..................pretending to be a monkey can do wonders for your spirit, unless it causes those around you to have undue concern, you should give it a try !!!, Our dogs slept through the whole thing !!!
I wish I could remember more of the message, but perhaps this line will encourage you , as it has me, many times over the years...
When there are times in your life you seem to be struggling so hard and you seem to not be making any progress, this is not the time to become discouraged....
Remember how hard a salmon swims to reach their spawning ground, many times they swim so hard while they even lose ground a bit ,in the pursuit of their homeland.... They persevere.... perhaps a bit battered, torn and exhausted, they make it..... and life is renewed, in the cycle of life for the salmon................
BUT the dead salmon ...go downstream................... so ,if life seems hard or discouraging and perhaps you want to yell ...I Quit ...just keep struggling , even if what seems against the current , there is rest and peace just around the bend, if you know how to find it....of course you can always pretend to be a monkey for a few minutes....ee ee eee..................
