My 7-year-old grandprincess claimed she wanted to be a professional fisherwoman when she grew up. With two brothers and a dad who loved nothing better than gripping a fishing rod in their hands, Bree loved the sport of fishing and had no qualms about reeking of squishy bait or handling squirmy, scaly fishes.
So, as a special treat, her parents signed her up for a fishing tournament.
The tournament rules were very specific about the fish eligible for judging (you had to throw back everything that wasn’t countable), and there were strict time limits. Each age category (Bree’s was age 6-12) would have a cash prize, trophy and brand-new fishing rod for each fish category. Hundreds had entered. All contestants were to gather at a specific time and location with their eligible entries to be measured, weighed and judged.
Bree steadily caught fish all morning, but none met the requirements for eligibility. With a half-hour to go before time expired, I received a text from Bree’s mom that Bree was fighting tears of discouragement. So, I did what any caring Mimi would do — I hit my knees and prayed diligently that the Almighty would send an angel under that boat ASAP to herd a plump fish of an acceptable heritage in the direction of Bree’s hook.
Whadaya know? With 10 minutes to spare, Bree hooked a 16-inch seatrout (a small but eligible entry).
They raced to the appointed rendezvous point but were late in arriving. The judges had just announced the final winner in Bree’s age category. She was too late.
But wait. As the names went up on the board, all the fish categories had winners except one: seatrout. Bree was the only one in her age bracket that caught a seatrout of any size. Her little fellow won!
I thanked Papa God for that amazing grace note as Bree proudly showed me her new fishing rod. I told her about my prayers and her little brown eyes got round as dinner plates. I hope that she’ll grow up firmly rooted in the knowledge that our heavenly Father cares about all the details of our lives … even squirmy, scaly ones.
