Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. ~Albert Einstein
A couple of weeks ago I went with my son’s family on a trip and on one of the days, we went to an aquarium. I’ve been to aquariums several times and perhaps have a few times thought what my sister said to me before I left for the trip about going to an aquarium. “When you’ve seen one fish, you’ve seen them all.” But once at the aquarium and peering through the glass at the wonderful array of fish in all their unique glory, I realized how wrong that was. In fact, I think her saying that and me sort of agreeing with her opened my eyes to the amazing diversity of fish and other sea creatures. Seeing the fish had me thinking of this old hymn published in 1848 by Cecil Frances Alexander.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
And I couldn’t have been more wrong to consider one fish the same as another. For example, there’s Mr. Grumpy fish that looked like he was having a very bad day and then there was the lacy looking fish that looked as if it could be the bow on a birthday gift. Not to mention the jellyfish that certainly are beautiful and have the ability to change in front of one’s very eyes from one color to another.
But the best part of my visit to the aquarium was seeing the fish and other marine creatures through the eyes of my grandchildren and the other children in the place as they admired the various fish and were amazed by the sharks. The visit was a highlight time for my youngest granddaughter who claimed manta rays and sea turtles as her favorite animals. She and her father watched the manta rays for a very long time while her older siblings waited patiently. She was thrilled, as I was, when the turtle came out of hiding and swam all around while we were moving through the shark tunnel.
Then God said, “let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heaves.” So God created great seat creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. …Genesis 1:20-21 (NKJ)
Without a doubt, I was very wrong to ever think if you’ve seen one fish you’ve seen them all. I don’t think any person has ever seen them all for the ocean is wide and very deep with room for many fish.
Have you ever been to an aquarium and been entranced by the beauty of fish swimming all around you?
