Counting Fish
Counting juvenile fish is harder than you think. They’re small, constantly on the move, and have no real distinguishing features to identify individuals. Our family took turns over a number of days to try to establish how many African Cichlid fry had survived the three week brooding period in the mouth of their mother Bethany. It didn’t look like Bethany was counting though, she was too busy eating. After weeks of no food, and only the taste of baby fish in her mouth, who could blame her?
Bethany’s willpower isn’t the only remarkable thing about her. Thorough and painstaking research has revealed her species’ surprising ability to do just what our family was struggling to do, count. The research proves that they’re able to perform simple arithmetic with numbers up to five, which is just more than half of Bethany’s brood. They have no cerebral cortex and no apparent need for arithmetic, yet they can count. Perhaps that’s just what Bethany was doing in-between bouts of binge eating.
We tend to underestimate the complexity and abilities of the creatures around us. It may be because they’re small and simple, but maybe it’s just because we’re too busy to stop and look and think. Perhaps that’s one of the casualties of our modern obsession with technology and instant gratification. How often do we take time to look around, occupy the present moment and just take it all in? When last did you lie on the shady lawn identifying the shifting shapes in the clouds, taking in the birdsong and the scent of spring on the breeze? Who has time for that?
We all do. We just don’t, and we suffer for it. If we did, perhaps we’d realise that all around us, every moment, God’s creation continues with or without our involvement or consideration. We might dwell in the knowledge that the earth continues it’s 100 000km/h path around the sun, that all around us spiders are selecting which of the numerous types of silk they produce is best for their current pursuit, and that fish like Bethany are doing sums. Maybe we’d begin to ease into the humble realisation that Someone is in control, and that we don’t need to be.
God delights to show us His power and goodness in what He’s created. Why else would He give fish like Bethany the ability to count, and people like us the ability to discover it? Yes, we still have places to be and important things to do, but let’s not do that at the expense of appreciating God our Father and everything He’s done through Jesus Christ. When we read verses like Colossians 1:16 and take time to appreciate His creation, we find our proper place in the it, and the blissful peace of knowing that He’s in control of all of it.
