Fish

Rev. Dr. Michael S. Barry, Director of Pastoral Care, CTCA/ERMC

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. -Proverbs 17:22

Fish! is the name of a short yet powerful book about a woman who found herself working in a “toxic energy dump.” She walks by Pine Place Fish Market where there are a number of men working behind the counter. Suddenly she sees a fish flying through the air and hears one of the men yell out, “One salmon flying away to Minnesota!” only to be echoed just as loudly by another, “One salmon flying away to Minnesota!”¹ Soon thereafter another man tosses a coworker a bunch of crabs yelling, “Five crabs flying away to Wisconsin!”

This woman saw that the men at Pine Place Fish Market were filled with lively energy and having a joyful time throwing fish around all day and began to wonder why she wasn’t enjoying her job, which in her mind was much more important than selling fish. As she reflected on this, she decided that her life was too precious to spend any time at all, let alone half her waking hours, in a toxic energy dump filled with people who were a drag to be around—unhappy and unfulfilled.

I am reminded of a verse in a song by Bob Dylan: I wish you could be in my shoes so that you could see what a drag it is to see you! Some people, if they are not careful, can weigh others down. As your loved one faces mortality, now is the time to be upbeat, which in the face of infirmity seems counter-intuitive, but it isn’t at all. Consider the wisdom of that Scripture above:

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
-Proverbs 17:22

Your friend needs “good medicine” flowing from your cheerful heart into theirs. As Ben Franklin put it, The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

Your challenge, and mine, is to create space in the life of your friend that is the emotional opposite of being a “toxic energy dump” -- one that is filled with positive energy, much hope, abundant love, occasional laughter and people engaged with life and living---people who sparkle, even in the midst of difficulty.

^{1Fish!, by Stephen C. Lunden, Harry Paul and John Christiansen, Hyperion, New York, p.31}

Reprinted by permission of the author from his book A Season of Hope and through the courtesy of the publisher, Cook Communication Ministries.