The fish died, but not from loneliness. He had lived alone, in a crowded vase with a bunch of plant roots. He lived that way for years, and he was happy. His predecessors proved it.
We tried putting him in a community aquarium with plenty of room and some other fish to keep him company. He died after a few months. We tried putting him in a community aquarium with a female of his own kind. He pestered her until she died. Then he died. We tried adding plants. He hid among the plants . . . and died.
You have probably seen this little fish. He’s the one they keep in a small jar at the pet store. The one you feel sorry for, because he is kept separate from all the other fish, in a tiny little jar with hardly any water. No filter. No heater. No room. No friends.
If you see him and feel sorry for him, buy him and take him home. But don’t put him in a big nice aquarium. Stick him in a big vase. Add water and a plant with lots of roots, so he barely has room to swim. Don’t try to keep the water perfectly clean. The plant needs some dirt at the bottom for its roots, and the fish won’t mind at all. In fact, if you treat him like this, he’ll live a long life because it’s the environment he was made for.
God made this little fish to live in muddy rice paddies. He gave him beautiful bright colors, gills that can extract oxygen from air as well as water, and the disposition to get along just fine in the confined, dirty spaces of the rice paddy mud puddles. Let him live as God intended, and he’ll be at peace. Try to force your own preferances on him, and he will die.
Just like the Betta fish, God made us all unique. He needs some to serve in the crowded cities, and some to serve in the remote mountains. He needs some that will minister to unruly 9 year olds and some to minister to a 90 year old in a lonely nursing home. We will never all be the same.
I believe one of the keys to peace is finding the spot where God has called you to be . . . then be there. Be what he has called you to be, in the place he has called you to be, and don’t let others distract you by proudly proclaiming their place is a better place. God has a place that fits you. Live there.
And by the way, that plant with which the fish lived so well? It’s called a Peace Plant. Who would have guessed?
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6