Thursday, September 19, 2013

salmon

I've had a weird fascination with salmon swimming upstream since elementary school science. I don't know why. But seeing a salmon swim upstream was on my to-do list in Alaska.



It didn't take long. There are lots of spawning salmon in September. They swim from the ocean and into the rivers where they lay their eggs and then die. When they are dying en-mass, it smells kinda bad. 

One of my patients told me she was praying for rain so the salmon would have enough water to keep swimming. I looked out the window at the downpour. It rains A LOT here.  God must love the salmon, she smiled. 

In Native Alaskan culture, the salmon is a symbol for determination. Something about that resonates with me. This year has been an uphill swim, a fight against sickness. Yet grace continues to rain and makes the swim upstream just a big easier. Sometimes that rain is just enough energy to get through another day, other times it is a glorious downpour like a month in Alaska. 

God must love the salmon.



No comments:

Post a Comment