keep swimming.
So a lot has been happening and I think we’ve all been feeling it. From pandemic, isolation, political wars, civil injustice, to winter storms… it seems as soon as we begin to recover we get hit again. We sink to the bottom.
I have a friend who through each event, and even on the in between days, continues to say “just keep swimming”. I never really paid much attention to it, I just heard it. She sometimes would post it on her Instagram and I would just read it. I never thought about the words. I just saw or heard the cute little catch phrase she seemed to be carrying with her over the past few months.
After a week of the winter ice storm and all the uncertainty, confusion, and heartbreak surrounding it, I fell asleep. We had been bouncing from freezing cold temperatures to having no water. We had heard constant, tragic news stories each day. Finally, the sun shone bright, the power restored, our water ran, and the city banded together to help one another recover. I fell asleep on this day - complete exhaustion (like post finals exhaustion sleep). Not just from the week-long storm, but from the weight of the year. This day of renewal felt light, the darkness had passed and the light was breaking through.
The whistles blew and I felt my lungs fill with air. I was completely surrounded by deep water. It seemed like an olympic sized swimming pool. I was treading water in the center when I saw a girl swimming towards me. The whistles blew again and she came at me pulling me down to the bottom of the pool. I began to panic as the oxygen dwindled. Panic turned to fight and I wrestled the stranger. I pulled and I pushed and I broke free from her grasp. As I escaped, I kept swimming to the top as fast I could to reach that invisible drink my lungs craved. The whistle blew and the crowds I hadn’t previously noticed roared. I realized this was some sort of game. I looked around and I could no longer see the girl I wrestled. The whistles rang out again and the girl came out of hiding. Again, she took hold of me… down, down, down into the waters. I fought, I wrestled and I escaped. This game went on and on. I found myself getting faster at my escape. I was getting stronger, or gaining strategy, or maybe both.
Then around game ten I felt my whole body melt when she hit me. I couldn’t do it again. My legs ached and my arms quivered as I moved. I couldn’t do it again. I didn’t have any fight left within me.
Horns blew and I was sent spiraling up to the surface. It was finished. The crowds erupted in cheer. An announcer came over in loud booming voice, “we suffer, we suffer again, and again so we can learn to fight like the angels”.
woah.
This is life. Suffering, pain, temptation, and evil are hiding around every corner… hiding at the bottom of our water. We don’t know when we will be pulled down, where it will come from, or how long it will last. But, we can be absolutely sure that we will make it back to the top. Each time you are getting stronger, gaining strategy for the next round. When you are completely exhausted and can’t go again, the Lord will give you rest. Through every round, in everything you are not alone. There is an enormous crowd of angels cheering you on, ready to jump in when you need life saving.
You have a spiritual father, Joseph, and mother, Mary… let them be your head coaches on the side line. Let them support you in your struggle, in your prayer.
The Holy Spirit spoke life into my heart. When I woke and recalled my dream, I immediately thought of that little catch phrase my friend kept placing on my screen… “just keep swimming”. How often does the Lord place messages or people in our lives and we simple don’t see until He calls it to our attention. He uses other people and little moments in our lives like words, like dreams, like people to speak into our hearts.
Our gentle and kind Father will never give us more than we can handle.
“No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor 10:13)
He never leaves you to fight alone.
“When you pass through waters, I will be with you; through rivers, you shall not be swept away. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, nor will flames consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2)
“Because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you and nations in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you…” (Isaiah 43:4-5)
“All who are called by my name I created for my glory; I formed them, made them.” (Isaiah 43:7)
The next time you feel that opponent come out of hiding and pull you down, wrestle and escape so you can just “keep swimming” with confidence. Confidence in the strength that comes from a faithful Father, confidence that comes from the support of a loving spiritual side-line family, and the encouragement of an enormous crowd of angels.
Lord, thank you for speaking life into our hearts through Your precious Holy Spirit. Thank You for loving us so deeply… even in our failure, when we lack charity, when we fall in our weakness. You never leave us alone. Thank you for sharing the heart of Mary and Joseph with us. May we always have eyes, ears, and hearts open to the simple moments You speak into our lives. Grant that we feel Your presence in other people and throughout our days. Jesus, abide in our hearts always… through every fight sanctify us, and keep us swimming in faithful perseverance. Amen.
xx courtney.
