What Is Your Salmon?

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” - Isaiah 43:18-19

There is a story of a bald eagle that was gracefully soaring over the northwestern Pacific in search of food one day. The eagle was flying over the ocean’s surface as it came upon a huge salmon swimming just beneath it.  

Being a skilled hunter, the eagle swooped down and securely placed its talons in the back of the large fish. As the eagle tried to lift the fish into the air, it soon discovered the salmon was too big for it to obtain any elevation. Its colossal wings were continuously hitting the water as it struggled to go higher with that large fish in its claws.

Eventually, the eagle realized that the fish was too heavy and decided to detach its sharp talons from the salmon for a chance to pursue a smaller prey. Unfortunately, its claws were dug so deep into the fish that it could not detach its talons from the animal.  

As the eagle frantically flapped its wings trying to fly higher, the salmon was flapping its body fighting back. Despite wanting to fly and go higher, eventually, the weight of the salmon caused the eagle to lose altitude and it was drug back into the sea where it drowned because it could not separate itself from that fish.  

An otherwise successful fisher and an expert hunter was tragically pulled to its death simply because it didn’t have the capacity to let go. Sadly, this eagle’s dilemma parallels the struggle many people face in their everyday lives. Many of us have found ourselves in pursuit of something that we thought was more attractive, something we felt would be more advantageous, something that we believed would be more prosperous.

But eventually, we discover that what we thought would add value to our lives has sadly taken away from our lives. We realize that what we thought would take us higher is only dragging us down and taking us lower. And the major factor that is causing the problem and keeping us weighed down, burdened down, and held down, is our inability to LET GO.  

What is your salmon? What do you need to let go of in your life before it drags you too far under?