I fish with Grandpa Thorwald’s Langley Streamlite reel. I once “googled it,” as they say, and was surprised by some of the values I saw. Very impressive. That is of course values for Langleys in mint condition, preferably in the original box. Not the one I use.
Grandpa’s reel has been with me for many years now. He used it hard before me. I use it just for ice fishing now. It has been buried in snow and slush, thrown into my tackle bag with ice scoops, fillet knife, file, and lures. It is missing a few screws and has fine scratches all over it.
I realize that if I had something in mint condition I could admire it from time to time; I could put it in a case; I could sell it; why it might even be a collectable! But you know where I am going with this line of thought already. I’d rather have the satisfaction of pulling in a lake trout as my grandpa did.
You see I never met him; he died before I was born, but my dad told me the fishing stories of grandpa on Lake Michigan or on the Namekagan and Flambeau rivers. Those stories remain with me and as I enjoy the feel of the reel in my hands I imagine grandpa’s grip on the reel as I practice something he passed on to my father, and he passed on to me. And I know there is plenty of life left in that reel, and plenty of fish to catch.
I also hunt with the old 16 gauge Winchester that belonged to Grandpa Thorwald. It is another relic. I crossed paths with another hunter one day who had a look of surprise at the age of my shotgun. I really don’t think much about that; I just enjoy the feel of it in my hands where I see how my grandpa’s hands had worn the stock smooth. And when I hunt I think about Thorwald sighting down the barrel, my father’s stories about him, his character and his faith, and I am reconnected to my roots.
I own another worn out tool for living. It is my father’s Bible. The leather cover is worn smooth, the pages are darkened at his favorite passages, the margins are full of his notes and prayers. But I choose to leave that relic on the shelf; it is too fragile now, it is in an older translation than I prefer, and the margins are too full for me to add my own notes.
I have my own Bible of course and I use it as my father and mother used theirs. When it comes to faith in God we need to make the Word our own. And it is just fine if we wear it out. It does us no good to keep it in mint condition; it is not a guide for life if it is sitting on a shelf. You and I know that our Bibles become all the more precious with the use we give them.
Looking at our parents’ Bibles can give us a sense of our roots, but it using our own Bibles that allows us to grow. Because of them we hold our own Bible, and because of them we turn to God’s Word for wisdom to fit each day. They were faithful to the promises they made to God on our behalf – they placed the Holy Word in our hands. So I give thanks for the heritage of faith I have received.
In my work I have seen in many homes the wellworn covers of Bibles that feed your souls and guide your lives. I see the worn edges of the pages at your favorite passages, so often right in the middle at the Psalms and then again in the Gospels. Some of these well-worn Bibles have notes and bookmarks sticking out and tape, or ribbons or rubber bands holding them together.
And when I see this I also see a gentle strength, a trust and confidence in the heart of the one who has been wearing that book out and being shaped by it in the process. I encourage all of us to enjoy the feel of the Bible in our hands as we find that it not only has plenty of life left in it; it actually has abundant life for all.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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