This past Sunday had been a spectacular day for fishing. It was sunny and warm, with no hint of the wind that can interfere with casting a fishing line into the water.

My six year old granddaughter, Rosy, LOVES to fish. Her life has been pretty self-contained lately, with her virtual school and inability to play at her favorite playground with her friends.

When I picked her up for the day, she had a wistful look in her eyes and immediately asked about going fishing. “No wind today! I can fish by myself”, she said, excitedly, which she repeated to her dad when we arrived home. Running to clutch her pink Disney Princess fishing pole, she proffered it to her dad and waited anxiously for him to thread a worm on the hook. (Yes, she can FISH herself. However, she still cannot bring herself to put the live, wriggly worm on the hook.)

Sitting excitedly in the camp chair next to her dad, she cast the bait into the lake. She sat patiently, swinging her legs back and forth and singing quietly to herself. When there was a pull on her line, she screeched, “A FISH! A FISH!” She reeled it in herself, and squealed again when a small, brightly colored sunfish emerged from the water. Jumping from foot to foot, she showed it to her dad by shoving it into his face, and he appropriately gave her a “high five”. Rosy beamed with pride as he gently took it off the hook and threw it back into the lake. She waved at it, saying “Bye little fishy!” Her enthusiasm never waned as she continued to fish…all day. And she continued to catch sunfish…all day…twenty-two of them. (Or, one of them twenty-two times!)

Near the end of the day it was time to go home to her mom. “One more cast?” she asked with hope in her eyes. “Okay we have time for ONE more!” Steven said as the baited hook and bobber again went into the water. All of a sudden, the bobber was snatched and disappeared into the water with a vengeance. Rosy screamed but managed to hold onto the rod and, with great difficulty but all by herself, she reeled the fish in inch by inch. She never stopped squealing until the fish was pulled out of the water, at which time her screech turned into a cacophony of excited laughter. The fish was a HUGE bass, at least a foot long with a big, wide mouth. It bent the fishing pole in half as Rosy dragged it out. Not wanting to keep it out of the water too long lest it die, Rosy held the fish up as her dad took a picture, and then her dad took it off the hook and threw it back into the water.

When I dropped Rosy off at her mom’s she gave me a big hug and kiss, and told me it was the “best day ever”. BEST day ever! She caught 22 small and one Goliath of a fish. It was unbelievable.

The abundance of fish got me thinking of the parable of Jesus multiplying the fish and the loaves. I remembered that a few days before, my daughter, Marie, and I had delivered a car full of bread to the Providence Rescue Mission. The bread seemed to multiply to the point that the car was full to the brim, enveloping Marie so only her head was showing and the loaves popped out of the car like clowns pop out of a clown car.

During this time of COVID-19, it is easy to get discouraged and to wonder where is God? This week provided me with encouragement, sought in the unlikely situation of an abundance of loaves of bread and an abundance of fish….just a little reminder that with God, there is hope.