the grace of whatever and swimming in the shallow

I used to get a lot of flack from this really cute swim instructor in L.A. because I put swim vests on my children. I would tell him, "there is ONE of me and FOUR of them... and I want to keep it that way." The vest gave me peace of mind. Of course, my kids? They couldn't zip them off fast enough...and dive into the deep end. This mother-gig is NOT for the wimpy because is it just me, or is being responsible for small lives around a pool of water WHILE WEARING A BATHING SUIT IN PUBLIC all kinds of horrifying???

But the deep end is inevitable and not just inevitable but I think necessary. And we do need to let go of our vests eventually and see where the water moves us. And as we all keep on swimming, sometimes lazily on our backs with the sun on our face, and other times exhausted and weary as the current is against us and we feel like we are only swimming in place..we really do need to use Hope as our anchor and His Word as our life vest and keep aiming for the deep.

The shallow is great if you don't mind staying on the surface...but I don't know...I am looking around at the pain in this world and seeing an ocean that we are called to jump deep into...it feels like tragedy after tragedy and yet I know all too well that what hurts us is not an invitation to wallow in the shallow but rather, a call and command to cast our nets out into the deep...to swim out just a little bit further. It is just what I am thinking about today...that, and how grateful I am to know how to swim. That, and how blessed we are that this pool of water is actually an ocean of mercy, and it is not by the grace of whatever, but only by the grace of God that we do not drown.

more thoughts on the shallow over here today