Things that we learn from kids
Today marks the end of my family's first season as a swim family and I must say that I have certainly been impressed with my family thoughout this season. Firstly, let me say that my oldest daughter, the one who swam this year, gave me an overwhelming sense of pride. Last year, she barely had the guts to let go of the wall at her aunt's apartment swimming pool. She was nervous about even trying out because she wasn't sure if she could actually swim 25 meters. But she tried out anyway. She made the team.
And she was a little nervous being on a team with other girls that had been swimming for years. You could see her tentativeness when hanging out with them at meets. But she did it anyway. And she made a lot of new friends (and fans at that).
My family also blew my mind with the way they handled the change in our lifestyle due to a rigorous swim season schedule. We weren't sure how we were going to handle an hour long swim practice five days a week with a six hours meet every Saturday while we were seven months pregnant with our fifth child. But we tried several things and when all was said and done, we made a lot of new friends, had a lot of fun, exposed all of the kids to a wonderful sport and had one of the best family bonding experiences I can think of.
So all of this got me to thinking, what gets into a person that makes them "take the plunge"?
This is the land I have promised you
Every now and again you hear of stories where people do extraordinary, sometimes supernatural, things in response to less than comfortable situations. This situations usually involve the overcoming of some major fear, or some major foe, or some major possible failure.
When I feeling fearful or overwhelmed I like to turn to passages in the Bible that describe poeple overcoming unusual circumstances or at least reasoning to do so. One of those passages is the story of Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 13).
These two fellows were chosen to be spies along with ten other leaders. The spies were given the job of inspecting the land that God had promised them and returning a report of what they has seen. They were sent simply to see what God had in store for them when they received the blessing of their land. Instead, 10 of the men were crippled by what they saw. They returned a report of giants in the land. They were spooked by the warriors that were in the land they were supposed to possess. So they freaked out and told the Isrealites that there was no way that they were going to be able to get into their land.
But Joshua and Caleb told a different story. The basics of that story are: 1) Let us go up at once, 2) and take possession 3) for we are well able to overcome it.
What do we do now, what do we do then, why should we do it. For those days when it seems that you can't do it, think about how big the situation would seem if you were not going to be here tomorrow. Would it still be as frightening? Would you put it off? Why can't you do it?
Everyone is given an innate ability to do things that seem to be beyond our natural ability. Yet we manage. Things get done. Obstacles are overcome. Struggles are defeated. Our spiritual design allows us, through faith, to do the impossible. There is no reason to expect otherwise when faced with the impossible.
It's just like a daughter who thinks she can't make it. Or a family that can't fathom the thought of swimming six days a week. It can be done. And praise God, it will be.
