Everyman Angling

There’s not much on this earth that I enjoy more than fishing. I enjoy the preparation. I enjoy the pursuit. I enjoy the peace.

What if I could spend the rest of my life fishing? Would it give me purpose? Would it bring me satisfaction? Would it make me happy? Had you asked 10-year-old Stephen, I think he would have said, “Yes.” Young Stephen would have confused the gift with the Giver.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said that: 

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity

Lewis argued that happiness was not achievable apart from God. Lewis seemed to think that I wouldn’t find ultimate satisfaction through a lifetime of fishing. But isn’t there something I can do to find happiness? What if I make a lot of money? What if I maintain healthy relationships? Perhaps I can travel the world. Would that would do the trick? Maybe I can dedicate myself to meaningful work. Surely, Lewis overlooked an alternative route to happiness.

I mean, Lewis didn’t get a chance to meet 10-year-old Stephen, a boy who was thrilled to catch creek chubs with loaf bread in the culvert, a boy who would tie on lures and practice casting at stuffed animals in his bedroom. If that boy cannot find happiness through fishing, is happiness even possible?

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 1:2 ESV

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon discovered that pleasure, wealth, knowledge, and work are all meaningless without God. He viewed everythibg under the sun as empty and fleeting. So, Solomon and Lewis seem to agree that earthly pursuits, even if meaningful, leave man unsatisfied.

If I could spend the rest of my life fishing, I think I would convince myself that happiness was just around the next bend in the creek. Fulfillment would always be one fish away. For many of us, we have convinced ourselves that peace is just one promotion away, one car away, one vacation away. However, we often find that each milestone carries the same emptiness once the newness fades.

I still have so much fun fishing, but I no longer confuse the gift with the Giver. I realize that any happiness I get from fishing is transient and meaningless apart from God.

At the end of the day, God himself is the gasoline on which humanity was designed to run. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself because there is no such thing.