Clinging On

If you have never tried crabbing from a pier, with a line and bait, then I highly recommend it. This, for me, was one of the highlights of our holiday. It took me all my effort, every time, we went past the pier, not to ask if we could go and try and catch some more crabs. I loved it that much.

I’m not one for sandy beaches, but give me some rock pools and I could easily spend all day, exploring every nook and cranny, looking for sea life. Pregnant bump or not, it’s never stopped me. In fact, usually the kids are bored a long time before me, and are impatiently waiting for me to find ‘just one more crab’ before I’m ready to leave!! 😬🙈

This year, when I was googling where we were going on holiday, I noticed that lots of people recommended the local pier, saying that it was ideal for crabbing. I googled ‘how to crab from a line’, and I read this really cute article aimed at children explaining what to do.😉 I bought some little cheap kits on amazon, that contained a long, rope-like line, with a weight at the end and a little net bag where you put your bait in, to lure the crabs. I ordered plenty of bacon to have with us, so it didn’t all get eaten on our holiday cooked breakfasts!

A few days before we left, I came across another crabbing kit, in a poundshop, on the high street. This one was much the same as the others, however it had a collapsible net underneath the bait bag so that it was easier to catch the crabs. Having never done this type of crabbing before, I had no idea what difference this made, but I decided to buy another kit anyway. That's one thing about me, I do tend to go a bit ‘overboard, just in case’!

On our first trip to the pier, it was really busy. Lots of people were out and about, enjoying the lovely weather. I was a bit paranoid trying to find a space for all 8 of us on the pier, I really dislike drawing attention, and a family of 8 certainly makes it difficult to remain in the background. Something I, annoyingly, still struggle with. 😕

However, it didn’t take long for me to forget about my issues, as I was distracted with cries for help from, believe it or not, one of our elder teenage sons, who was excitedly pulling up the net filled with lots of big crabs.

We caught 46 crabs that afternoon. There were lots of shrieks, squeals and shouts of joy, terror and excitement as we all took turns with the lines. It was so much fun that I completely forgot all about my issues and didn’t even care that we sometimes had an audience watching us all, waiting to see what we hauled up.

The lines with just the bag on the end were a little bit more tricky to use. Quite often we would pull the line up out of the water and see one or two big crabs clinging onto the bag of bacon. Before we could manage to get the bag up onto the pier, the crab would have lost its grip and dropped back down into the sea, only to be met by groans of disappointment from us and the audience around us. 😰

However, the kit with the collapsing net meant that when you were pulling the line up, any crabs that lost their grip on the bag, remained in the net underneath it, and were still pulled up to our waiting buckets. After a few days, this kit became known as the 'cheating way to do it,' and we all became determined to try and catch them without it. There was something more satisfying about that.

I honestly could have spent every day down at the pier. I loved the thrill of anticipation as I pulled my line out of the sea, eagerly waiting to see what was on the end. Other times the tide was so low, I could actually watch the crabs racing along the seafloor to the bag of bacon, hungrily checking it out. These times you could see the really big crabs and we tried our best to aim our lines at them when we dropped them over the edge, hoping that they would cling onto the bait. It was so easy to get caught up with the ‘just one more crab’ attitude, but my kids shamed me one night as they moaned loud enough for people standing near us to hear!! They were starving and wanted to go back home so I could make dinner. 😂

I’ve pondered these memories lots of times since, and I can’t help but see myself, like these crabs, clinging on with all their might to the bacon. I often find myself, in my journey of life, clinging on with all my might. Sometimes it feels like every single part of me is holding on, as if my life depends on it, the way that some of those crabs had each of their huge pinchers and all their other legs holding tightly to the netted bag. Some of them were holding on so well that it was difficult to get them to let go and into the bucket.

I cling on, like it all depends on me and my strength and abilities. I forget to live in the good of the bible verse that says ‘cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you’.

I have started to see our ‘cheat line’ as a picture of God. With THAT crabbing line, those crabs didn’t need to cling onto the bag, they could sit right there in the bottom of the net, quite comfortably, and nibble away on the bacon on the bag. The net had them. They didn’t need to hold on with all their might. I see that bag of bacon, like many of the circumstances in my life, every promise from God, every worry and fear. I cling to it, like it all depends on me and my ability to hold on, to make it through. For me, God is like that net. He is around me, underneath me, holding me, keeping me safe, in His will. I don’t need to cling on with every ounce of energy I can muster, in order to survive, I can rest at the bottom of the net, knowing that God has me.

My problem is putting that into practice. So often I feel like the crab, going it alone, clinging onto that bag with every bit of its might, getting higher and higher, spinning round and round out of control, feeling the spray from the sea, all the while the crabs grip gets looser and looser, resulting in it ultimately letting go and falling back down into the depths. When I'm depending on me and my strength, I easily feel like I'm losing control, and it's not the salty sea that I feel the spray from, but the sea of despair, doubt and discouragement.

Over the years, God has given me promises, through different bible verses. I find myself clinging to these promises like it depends on me and my ability for them to become reality. I use all my strength, clinging on, like it’s all down to me, instead of trusting in God and resting in Him.

Instead of living like this, I am reminded of the bible verse “come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” I don’t need to be exhausted holding on with all my strength. Like the net providing a bottom for the crabs to sit on, God wants me to go to Him and find my rest there.

Not doing things in our own strength, is a common theme throughout the bible. God never expects anything of us in our own abilities, He might ask things of me, but only from the safety of ‘the net’, where He is, with His help and power. Even becoming a christian has nothing to do with anything I can do. No amount of ‘right living’ and ‘good works’ can make anyone a christian. It’s all about God and what His Son Jesus did. His death on the cross was enough to make anyone right in God’s eyes. All we are asked to do is believe in Jesus, who He is and what He has done.

I’ve come to quite like the ‘cheat line’. It’s become my favourite one out of them all! Once I find a place near here, I’ll be back giving crabbing another go. But this time I’ll look at the net with great fondness and be reminded of God.

“The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are underneath you.”

Deuteronomy ch33:27

This song sums up my thoughts perfectly. 💗