Lessons from the Pool

For all those who have seen my son this summer, you would never have recognized him from the child that loved the pool last fall. He still loved the beach, most likely because he could walk from the beach to the water and vice versa anytime he wanted. But with the pool, a switch was flipped and suddenly he clung to the steps, and was rarely ever coaxed into the pool. For example, the pictures you saw of him at family vaca in Lake Michigan were the only times he went in the water. And yes, that was with a pool temptingly in the backyard for a week.

So I wondered how he would be this week in Phoenix. He went in more often, but still clung to the bench that ran the whole end of the pool, refused to ride on one of the rafts, and would cling mercilessly to you if you took him off the step.

Until yesterday.

The previous day he would jump from the steps to my arms, so yesterday I tried to get him to do the same thing, but with his arm floaties. Gradually I stepped back further until he had to swim a foot or two to get to me. Once he realized he was swimming (and I would make him swim back, much to his chagrin), he became a bit braver. I loved hearing him exclaim, "I did it!" after he reached the steps. It took patience, but by the end of the evening, he was swimming the length of the pool!

Last night for our Bible story, we read about the houses that the wise and foolish men built. It was such a perfect example to explain to him how we need to trust in Christ as our solid rock, just as he trusted that I would not let his head go in the water. I think because I lack a lot of common sense, it is sometimes hard for me to help explain anything to my child, let alone abstract concepts. I love it when God just hands me a nugget of truth with the application from a lesson learned earlier in the day!

Now let's hope he applies both these physical and spiritual lessons in the future!