Two weeks ago I got to visit the aquarium in Durban, called Ushaka Marine World.
On one of the tours, the tour guide explained to us that they feed the fish on only four out of seven days of the week.
“Why?” someone asked.
The guide asked us whether or not we had noticed that the fish kept on swimming about nonstop. Yes, we had noticed that. Whether they were sharks, seahorses or sea urchins, they were always in a state of motion. She explained that the fish kept on swimming because they were all just hungry enough to keep them looking for food. And the constant swimming kept them in shape and kept them healthy, thus mimicking “real world” conditions in the ocean. If they fed the fish to the point of satiety, the fish would cease being as active. They would stop swimming about to look for food, and they’d fall sick.
That got me thinking about how humans are actually the same.
Fish are meant to swim to keep healthy, and humans are meant to work.
If we had everything we wanted and needed, we would stop working, stop growing and stop praying.
And then we would fall sick.
It’s a tough reality to accept, but it’s difficulties and resistance that keep our muscles, spiritual and physical, in shape.
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