By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

I’ve shared many signs with you in the past few years, but here’s another.  It says, “Please Keep Off The Walkway, Don’t Handle The Fish”.  Now, those of you who know me personally know that my middle name is ‘sarcasm’.  I read this sign and immediately think, “Well, if the fish didn’t want to be handled, they had no business being on the walkway to begin with!”

Of course there were no fish on the walkway.  This sign was posted at a fish hatchery.  We were free to wander the grounds, but not to be on the walkways between the large fish tanks or to lean over the edge and bother the fish.  I’m not quite sure why anyone would want to, anyway.  However, most signs are indeed posted for a reason, and the reason is usually because someone has tried to do the very thing that is being warned against.

As you wander in your daily work, how hard is it for you to remain focused?  Are you easily distracted by the things around you, even to the point of putting your hands and efforts into things where you have no business?

Allow me to challenge you to remain focused this week.  Love your neighbor.  Lend a helping hand.  But be careful not to neglect your own duties as well.  If you stopped to “handle all the little fish”, too many others would too.  And that isn’t good for the fish.  They must learn to swim and survive on their own.  To some, that might sound cruel.  To the fish who never learns to swim, it is detrimental.  And another thing — if you wander those walkways so closely between those fish tanks, and you slip and fall into one, not only have you possibly injured yourself, but you have greatly disturbed the inhabitants of the tank!

Just a thought.