Pursuing fake fish on the bottom of the kiddy pool

Zoe has a new favorite activity: digging the water out of her bowl... she no longer gets water inside or is monitored when she does. Thinking she might be trying to communicate that she would like to learn how to swim, we purchased a kiddy pool for her. It’s the typical kiddy pool you’re imaging in your head: blue, plastic, about 4 feet in diameter, 18 inches high, and has colorful fish adorning the sides and bottom.

After a few doubtful walks around the pool, Zoe climbed in to test the waters. Does she love it? I’m not sure. She’s only concerned with one thing while “swimming” in her pool: getting those colorful fish. She goes round and round, digging, pawing, biting, and splashing. All in hopes of capturing those elusive sea creatures.

To Zoe, these fish are not merely colored plastic on the bottom of a kiddy pool, they are real. She does not understand the fish are not alive or that they are not toys for her to play with. She will never be able to grab them in her mouth but they remain the center of her attention.

Sometimes I am like Zoe in the kiddy pool, I chase after what I cannot have. I dig and scratch and bite and claw until I am choking on water. Something about my humanness fails to realize I cannot have these things. We all have fake fish in our lives. They are the dreams and goals and hopes we have that are not in God’s plan. They are the things of this world that seem so good, like fish on the bottom of the kiddy pool, but lack actual substance.

God has given us a “kiddy pool” (if you will) and he hopes that we will enjoy it, swim in it, take in the coolness of the water. But we end up pursuing fish painted on the bottom and completely miss out on His plans. We planned for Zoe to relax and enjoy the water. Instead she ends up hot, bothered, and choking on water.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Plans that are better than circling the kiddy pool in pursuit of fake fish.