The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is the tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives [for God, as a fisher of men – he gathers and receives then for eternity]. Proverbs 11:30 AMP

It finally rained! And now, I can prepare my garden for some late fall planting or winterization for spring. So the other day, my kids were down in the half acre oasis checking to see if the few weeds we had were going to cooperate and extract easily.

In the process, they unearthed an abundance of plump, juicy worms. Normally, we like to keep those little productive guys working on the soil, but with so many, my gang had a brilliant idea. “Let’s go fishing!”

For me, there are three basic keys to catching fish: bait, tackle, and timing. No matter what kind of fish you are out to catch or the location where you are going to catch them, bait, tackle, and timing will either increase or decrease your rate of success.

This has, for me, become a mandatory skill set for about everything I do in life. So, if you are going to get along, move ahead, or bring change, you have to know how to “catch people.”

The first key is bait (food). It represents things of interest to the persons you are endeavoring to reach. It is what makes sense and relevancy in their world. For instance, I have a group of friends who are undergoing some intense training for career advancement. They have a series of tests and qualifications they have to complete before they can graduate from one phase to the next. And for them, when I show up on a qualification day it speaks volumes. That’s the good kind of bait. It’s all about letting others know you care, for real!

Using the same analogy, the second key is tackle. It’s reflective in taking time out of my day, driving my car, and offering a place to train and prepare during the week’s class.

And the final key, timing, is just that, making time at the right time. In the case of my friends, timing is as important as any of the keys. And that is what makes it fishing. You can’t just generically put a schedule together and check off some boxes if you plan on “catching fish.” You have to put in some time and get to know your pond, and . . . love your fish.

The keys work whenever they are “righteously” applied. And a good fisherman lives for the times he or she can do just that…fish!