Seizing the Moment

The story of Tobit was told at Readings today. I listened, and as I heard Now when the boy [Tobit] went down to wash his feet in the river, a large fish suddenly leaped out of the water and tried to swallow his foot. He shouted in alarm. But the angel said to him, "Take hold of the fish and don't let it get away!" The boys seized the fish and hauled it up on the shore...it occurred to me what it means to seize the moment. 

The boy Tobit was terrified of the "big fish" that came to "swallow his foot." He would have solved the problem by running away. But instead he followed the angels' advice to grab that very fish in the act of attacking him, haul it up on the shore, and cut it up. (Here I kinda think that'll show you to attack me!)  The fish that had threatened to disable him then became the healing potion for his soon to be wife's demon and for his father's blindness.

We all have times when some sort of "large fish" attempts to cut off our feet. To be level headed enough to grab our challenger and haul it [be it truth or action or gossip] out, to face what threatens to destroy us and talk it out, to admit to a weakness and take steps to move away from it, these are the lessons we can garner from the section of Tobias.