A fisherman sat on a dock with a ruler and a basket beside him. He caught a fish and measured it. The fish was six inches long. He threw the fish in the basket. He got another bite and pulled in a nine inch fish. In the basket it went.

A little later he felt a violent jerk on the line. He pulled in a twenty inch fish. That fish he threw back in the water!

A little girl had been watching this procedure. She asked him, “Why did you throw back the big fish and keep the little ones?” The fisherman replied, “Because my frying pan is only ten inches across!”

Too often, we receive tiny yields from our efforts because our expectations are too small! There is something to be said for the ‘power of positive thinking’; if we do not expect God to fill our cups as we surrender ourselves to Him, then we should not be surprised when we receive less-than-spectacular returns on our spiritual investments.