Within the last month I have added a different form of exercise into my workout routine. I swim. I am actually starting to like this part of my training. Partly because the pool at our gym is almost always empty in the mornings when I go. Partly because it is very quiet in the water without the ability to plug my headphones into a media socket. But mostly to break up the monotony of the treadmill.
In the beginning only three problems stood between me and the pool. First, I did not own a swimsuit in which I could actually do laps. The ones I owned were more like the fashion kind used to sit on the beach and look cute. And finding a modest suit that actually covered my not-so-small breasts proved to be quite a challenge. Secondly, in order to get in the pool I needed to get half naked in said swim suit. Thirdly, the life guards at our gym are also the teenage boys from our church's youth group! So I had to find a swimsuit that held all of me that I could strip down to in front of impressionable young men that I needed to have respect for me come Sunday morning. That was a challenge.
But I did it. After much searching, I found a suit. I have gotten over my fear of allowing this much of my skin to been seen. And, the best part is that I have even more respect (and I think it is even reciprocated) for the teens that have to sit in the patrolman's chair and watch my attempts to learn how to swim.
On most days I am the only person in the pool. If I ever do have to share the water it is usually with a retired US Navy sailor who has to be in his 70's but has one mean backstroke.
But today's swim was different.
Today a woman walked in the pool area carrying a size 6, B-cup, athletic frame. (I am certain she had no problem trying to find a lap suit that would fit her.) She eased herself into the water. Placed her goggles over her eyes and off she went. She glided across the water with no effort. She swam like a dolphin. Such ease. Such perfectionism. She even knew how to swim in a straight line with her eyes shut. A task I still haven’t seem to master.
She lapped me many many times. (Something I should be used to being that one of my running partners run circles around me—literally!)
By the time she had completed her workout I was only 2/3's of the way done with my mile. I felt like such a schmuck. I was convicted that her only intention of working out this morning was to make me feel like an inadequate beached whale who was struggling to breathe with each stroke. I just knew that her only purpose in life was to make me look horrible. She had reached her goal.
Then she left. Of course she did. She was done with her mile. I started to feel better. I realized that she probably didn't come to hurt me or even think twice about me. I also realized that if an Olympic swimmer came in she might actually feel the same way I did—but I doubt it.
Then I realized that is how we are with our Christian walks. Some of us are beginners and have only been in the pool for a month. Some of us have had professional training for years or decades. But all of us are doing our best. And as long as we are swimming better than we were a year ago...and we will be swimming better a year from now, that is all God wants. He doesn't expect us to have everything mastered—not even the swimming straight thing. He just wants us to keep learning. Keep doing His will. Keep breathing. Keep swimming. No matter who is looking or in the lane next to you.
He loves you and your efforts. Just as much as I am sure the lifeguards love me and my efforts. Because they aren't laughing at me—well, at least not out loud anyway.
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