We can be someone's shot of hope that fuels a dream

​I watched him sitting at the edge of the lake, staring out to where his line dropped into the water and down to the lake bed below. It's the nature of fishing, isn't it, staring - wondering what the line might ultimately connect with.

Sure, we have some visions of what that connection might ultimately be, but we never really know do we?

The pole rattled a bit and the line tightened. He jumped up and began to reel it in. In those initial moments, the adrenaline taking over, your mind doesn't allow you to much picture what you're bringing in. But the adrenaline does feel like extreme curiosity.

It's a catfish. Maybe a couple of pounds.

It's a boy. A dream come true. Even if the boy wasn't entirely sure what the dream was.

Later in the day, he sends me pictures of catfish caught in that same lake that he'd found online. One of them is 14 pounds. Looks like we've found our fishing hole, we joke.

Or maybe, actually, we are not joking.

Because he knows what he wants now. The dreaming and wondering come with more clarity once you have a taste of what is possible.

Dreaming is magical. Holding for even a moment what that dream might look like come true is a gift magic sometimes hands us while we dream. A beautiful gift.

I wonder if we can do that for one another a little more. Show each other what is possible, especially in those places where so many of us have given up. We are staring at the line but don't allow ourselves to imagine that it will connect with anything.

It just falls to the lake bed and plops like the end.

We don't need to catch a dream there. A simple hint of one will do. A simple hint of what is possible, and we can take the fishing from there.

New life.

You don't have to be someone's catfish today. What an ugly assignment that would be. But maybe you can be someone's shot of hope. Even if just a tiny shot. I don't think there's anything ugly at all about that assignment.

We all do life a little better when we believe something good is coming.

Be that reminder for someone today. They are staring at a line waiting for it.