SCHOOL’S OPEN!

  ‘School of Goldband Fusilier’ photo by Broken Inglory CC BY-SA 3.0.

Well, at least it is underwater!  Have you ever seen a school of fish?  It is beautiful and mesmerizing to watch!  A school of fish is a group of fish of the same species that swim tightly together in the same direction, in a highly synchronized manner.  This process of self-organization gives them protection against predators (there is strength in numbers) and they appear as one big fearsome unit!  Individual fish within the school can save energy by swimming behind another fish taking advantage of what is called draft, the action of being pulled along.  (Like one race car following extremely close behind another at 150 mph!).  The school also helps the individual fish find food!  Two + eyes are better than one.  AND you can find true love in school!!!!  After all, a single school may contain anywhere from 3 to (in the case of herring or anchoveta), 3million fish!!!    

You ask yourself, how in the world do fish swim in sync?  Biologists believe that they primarily use their eyes to sync with the fish next to them, but they also have a ‘lateral line’ on each side of their bodies that sense subtle changes in water pressure in the surrounding waters.  

A school of fish is another dazzling display of God’s wonders similar to bird ‘murmurations’.  (See my post, ‘Murmuration’).  As Job said, ‘He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.’  Job 5:9.
Isn’t it interesting how God repeats Himself, including the same message in a variety of different ways in the Book of Nature!

The following is an adaptation of the message I included in my post entitled ‘Murmuration’.  It is essentially the same message about how He wants us to live!

A school of fish and a murmuration are beautiful examples of unity.  Every fish, every bird in continual sync with all the others in their fluid choreography!  God is showing you that unity is beautiful and needful for your own protection.  After all, you also have a predator, the enemy of your soul.  As the scripture makes clear, ‘Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion (like the Peregrine Falcon or a shark) looking for someone to devour.’ James 5:8. 

God is all about unity!  Psalm 133:1 ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!’  This is what Jesus prayed that all believers would have.  UNITY, beautiful as a school of fish, beautiful as a murmuration!  Does Jesus get His prayers answered?  I would hope so!   

He prayed to His Father in John 17: 
Verse 11 ‘that they may be one as we are one.’  (The Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.) Verse 21, ‘that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me, and I am in you.’ 
Verse 22, ‘that they may be one as we are one—’
Verse 23, ‘I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.’ 
Verse 24,’ that I myself may be in them.’

That they may be one with Him, one with their family, one with their church and or business associates.  Isn’t unity, oneness what we all strive for?  What we all want?  It is certainly God’s number one goal.  He sent His Son to die on a cross that we might be reconciled (unified) with Him!  Aren’t love, goodness, joy, success, protection byproducts of unity?  

Do yourself a favor and click on the following link to watch the beauty of schooling fish!

‘Why Do Fish School?’  Hakai Institute.

GO TO SCHOOL!

If you’ve never seen a murmuration, click on the following link to view a short video of a starling murmuration.

‘Flight of the Starlings’:  https://youtube.com/shorts/lX_xAiEBUTo?si=sv01aaaYAuseoXsp