We're having a bit of heat wave here (well, hot for Salinas), so the girls have been swimming a lot (even at 9pm last night!).
So, I was reminded of this story from when Bethany was younger (told from Bryan's point of view):
Small arms
squeezed my neck so hard I thought I would choke. A small body shivered and shook against
me. Her grip grew tighter.
I sighed and waded
into shallower water. Waves lapped the
sides of pool as other kids swam and leapt and turned somersaults in the
water. Shouts of laughter rippled over
the pool’s surface. I pulled gently at
my daughter’s arm. “Loosen up,
sweetheart. I won’t let go of you.”
“Nooooo.” Bethany’s whimper grew louder as she dug her
fingers deeper into my skin.
“Swimming is
fun. But you’ve got to let go of
Daddy.”
“I’m
s-s-scared.” Her teeth chattered even
though the water was a balmy eighty degrees.
I swallowed and
attempted to loosen her grip enough for me to breathe. But Bethany only grabbed harder, not because
she loved me or wanted to be close to me, but only because she was afraid. This was our third swimming lesson and she
still wasn’t brave enough to let go. I
reached for her goggles and put them on her, adjusting them so they fit just
right. “Okay, are you ready to
try?”
“I d-d-don’t
know.”
I looked into her
goggle-clad eyes. “You have to trust
me. I’m right here. Trust me.”
She took a deep
breath.
“Trust me,” I
repeated again.
This time, Bethany
nodded. “Okay, Daddy.” Her grip loosened a little bit. Then a little bit more. And a little more.
I sidled toward
the edge of the pool, then took her hands and placed them on the edge. Next, I stepped back until I stood three feet
away. “Push off and swim to me. You can do it.”
Bethany studied
the distance.
I reached out with
both hands.
With a push and a
splash, she was in the water on her own, then in my arms again.
I laughed. “You did it!”
She laughed
back. “That was fun!”
“You want to go
under the water?”
Her brows bunched
in a frown.
I smiled. “Trust me.”
Bethany
straightened her shoulders. “I’m ready.”
And down we
went. Once. Twice.
Three times. By the end of the
lesson, Bethany had discovered a whole new world of fun and adventure. She could go underwater and look around. She could “sit” on the bottom of the pool for
a whole three seconds. And she could
kick her way from the edge all the way to me without being afraid. Swimming had ceased to be scary and instead
was a joy. For an hour we swam and
played and enjoyed every minute.
Finally, it was time to leave.
“That was great,
Daddy,” Bethany exclaimed as she clamored out of the pool. “Can we come back tomorrow? And the day after that? And the day after that?”
I chuckled. “We’ll come back soon. I promise.”
“Yay!”
I grinned as I
watched her scamper into the locker room.
What a difference between the shivering, shaking girl who had climbed
into the pool and the happy, exuberant girl who had climbed out. And it was all because she had decided put
aside fear and instead trust her Daddy.
In some ways, my
life with God is not much different from Bethany’s swim lessons. Romans 8:15 (NIV) says, “For you did not
receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the
Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” When God calls me to try new things, to
stretch past my comfort zone, to step out into the unknown, it’s easy for me,
too, to cling to Him out of fear. But
God doesn’t want me to grab onto Him because I’m afraid. Rather, He wants me to trust Him enough to
let go of fear and embrace all the adventures He has for me. He wants me to learn to live in joy and
freedom, to learn how to swim with Him.
And just like
Bethany, I need to loosen my grip and trust God to be there if the waters get
too deep.
