Fishing Where They Always Bite

“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.” – Proverbs 27:2

I love to fish. Mixed with my love for fishing is my dislike of boredom. You know, casting out time after time and not even getting one bite. For fishing to be exciting there has to be the genuine expectation that soon you will feel that all too familiar tug on the line which is usually followed by a scream of, “I got one.” Fishing requires a fair amount of preparation. You need to assemble all the gear, bring the bait and tackle, and find a good spot. There is another kind of fishing that requires little skill and not much preparation. We call it “fishing for compliments.” The bait comes in different forms. You can steer a conversation in a direction that you know will lead to praise. Hinting is another form of bait, where you toss out a few statements that are sure to elicit positive feedback where you come out smelling like a rose. There is always the feeling-sorry-for-myself approach, where we make sure everyone knows how poorly we feel we executed our duties or performed our talents, knowing full well we were great; and now that the bait is dangling, the “Oh no, you were great” is soon to follow.

However we cast the line, fishing for compliments is very self-seeking and is a sign of insecurity. Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth.” Fishing for complements fulfills this proverb by providing another’s lips with your own self-initiated praise. It is like flattering yourself. We may not like to admit it but most of us have our tackle box ready just in case we find a good spot, which happens to be anywhere people are. That’s the way I see things.