In the lake at Capernaum lived Grin, a fish with an unusually big mouth. It seemed as though someone had placed an invisible magnifying glass there and had forgotten about it.
When Grin was a small fry, he tried his best to be liked. Only his ways of 'helping' were not received well by the general public in the school. He was quite confident and thought himself smart until his successive attempts at helping others failed miserably.
Once he was caught helping his cousin identify edible worms in the water. Thankfully, just as Ken was about to close his mouth over the juicy worm aunt Saille furiously pushed him away from the hook, giving Grin an ear-full. That was the end of his life as the 'smart-assistant of the shoal' and the start of his 'lonely and loathsome' phase of life, trailing behind travelling alone in the shoal.
Usually, his thoughts circled around, "why am I even a fish? Life would've been easier as a turtle."
Of course, through all that melancholy no one could still stop him when he went after the food factor. At those moments he even felt a pang of guilt when he said to himself, " I am glad no one's sticking to me." Once, he ventured even as far as imagining: "What if I had big bulging eyes to go with my humungous mouth?" He had to shake that thought quickly for the sheer monstrosity of the glimpse of such a picture scared him out of his wits.
On that relatively normal afternoon, the fish were taking their usual trip and Grin, feeling forlorn decided to go deeper. So as the school kept moving, Grin fell farther back in line. Since no one wanted to swim close to him, soon he was left to himself and swimming down to the bottom of the lake seemed like a piece of cake. Eyes closed he dived deeper and deeper till his big mouth hit something hard. "ouch!" is what he had wanted to say but before he could finish the "ou", the coin that hit him glided into his mouth.
Instinctively, Grin began to swim towards the surface. He tried spitting the coin out but it had found a nice spot and refused to come out. As he was fighting open-mouthed, he accidentally bit into angler's hook.
It was all over for Grin. He gave up the fight, closed his mouth and quietly awaited his end. As he was being reeled up, he wondered if getting caught in a net would have been less painful.
The sequence of events that followed this thought was surreal: the blinding sun, the heat, the grip of the fisherman's palm - and what was he doing? The fisherman took out the hook carefully, and then looked into Grin's mouth as if he knew what was in there. He took out the coin, danced a bit, threw Grin back into the water and went his way.
Grin could not believe what happened. But this second lease of life seemed more important to him than his big mouth. He knew now that life itself is more important and precious than his looks. He was no longer gloomy. He did not want to hide anymore. Grin lived up to his name, used his big mouth to grin and spread cheer. He soon realized that he needn't go looking for people who need help or have a name for himself to be recognized. Even with his big mouth and quirky imagination, he could bring a smile or two even to his begrudging aunt Saille's tiny pout.
Meanwhile, back on land, the fisherman went to the tax collector's office and paid the tax for himself and the Messiah. Grin may not have known the role he played on this Earth. But his life did matter to the Creator and it was quite a pleasing one to whom it mattered the most.
Comments