The Swimming Lesson
By Marjorie Meinzinger
The water in the motel pool was glistening and smelled like the usual chlorine treated pool. There were about twenty or so people playing in various places in the pool and a few more lounging in chairs and on towels around the edge of the pool as well. As I stood at the edge there were two things on my mind: cooling off from the heat of this summer day and showing off my newly acquired swimming skills. There were so many people in the pool and around the edge of it I was sure that someone would see me as I did the American crawl that I had learned at home in Michigan. Somewhere in my room was my little card that said I had successfully completed the beginners swimming course. I was going to prove to myself and all watching that I could swim.
I stroked and kicked from the shallow edge of the pool toward the rope that was stretched across the middle of the pool. I thought that in all pools the deep end started at the rope. My mother was sitting on one side of the pool in a lounge chair and my father stood somewhere on the other side of the pool. It was a beautiful day in Paris, Texas and we all were enjoying the luxury of a motel with a pool.
As I swam confidently toward the rope I began to feel tired. I did not want to stop showing off my skill so I kept swimming toward to the rope. When I reached the rope I put my feet down. There was no bottom. The pool bottom was designed differently than the pools I had been in before. The deepest part was in the middle where the rope was stretched across. I panicked. I forgot how to swim. As I bobbed to the surface of the water I screamed for help, thrashed my arms and kicked my feet to no avail.
An older girl nearby told me to float on my back. From the side of the pool my mother watched and listened. In a fraction of a second she was out of her chair and headed for the pool. Mom’s broomstick skirt billowed out like a hot air balloon as she leaped through the air toward the liquid surface. From the other edge of the pool a fully dressed man ran toward the water and jumped into the pool. My father swam toward my mother and I.
My mother and the unknown older girl pushed me to the side of the pool. My father reached my mother and pushed her to the edge. Hands pulled and pushed me onto the cement surface surrounding the pool. More hands pulled my mother onto the surface and then gently lowered her into a lounge chair. The pool was empty of it’s previous occupants. Somebody looked at me and said, “she’s OK.” People gathered around my mother touching her and looking at her. Finally someone announced, “she’s in shock.” I wondered what it meant that my mother was, “in shock.” She was really just dripping wet. Nothing electric had touched my mother. Now that I am a mom and grandma I know my mom also felt humiliated with all the attention.
The following summer I was signed up for swimming lessons. The lessons went well until test day. I was not afraid of the water as long as I knew where the bottom was and that I could touch it with my feet while my head remained out of the water. I did very well making the strokes and kicks that were taught in class. I did not expect to get the Intermediate card at the end of class. I was not going to swim in the deep water. I blubbered and reasoned with my sweet patient teacher that I could NOT take the test. Maybe I could just do the same thing in shallow water. Finally my teacher said something that changed the outcome of my test as well as my outlook on many things later in my life. She said, “ I’ll go with you.” As I reached the deep water I looked over at her and she said, “ I’m here.” I received my Intermediate Swimmer Card.
During the rest of the summer I swam in the deep end at the pool and even plunged off the high diving board many times. Sad to say, I forgot the name of that swimming instructor but I have remembered her as one of my best teachers. The important lessons she taught me were not in the Red Cross Swimming Instructor’s lesson guide. These lessons were: many times in life there are things we cannot do alone and we must accept help to succeed. When we fail we must try again. There are times that someone else will need me to swim beside them in deep water just like my teacher did for me. I need to watch for opportunities to help.
There were other lessons that I learned when reflecting on this experience. I thought of how my mother and father sat by the pool and watched and listened for me. When they saw and heard me in trouble they acted for my safety. God is like that. He watches and waits for us. It reminds me that those who do not know Him as Savior can call on Him to save them. God's Word says that God demonstrated His love toward us that when we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) As sinners we are like I was as a drowning victim. I thought I was good enough and that I had the skill to swim but I was not. God even tells us in His Word that all our good deeds in life (rightousness) are like filthy rags. He says what we do (good works, going to church etc.) comes short of the standard we would need to meet (the glory of God) to come to HIM. I couldn't save myself. God wants us to recognize that we need His help and He wants us to call on Him. He is waiting and watching for that call and He will answer and rescue whoever calls on His name.
When I think of my mother and father jumping into the pool it seems like an example of Christ who saw I was helpless but did not think of Himself. My parents humiliated themselves to save me. They only thought of saving me, not the embarassment and spectacle of two fully dressed people jumping in the pool. They loved me. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's only Son became a man on earth and came into a scene where He was humiliated. First He was born in a humble place, a cave where animals were housed. He had no place He called home as He walked among men during His early ministry. He was unjustly arrested and tried. Think of the humiliation of being beaten, spit upon, mocked and hung naked on a wooden cross to endure a horrible death when He was pure and holy and had done nothing to deserve what He bore for the sins of the world which included ME and YOU. He endured this humility willingly because God's Word says He loves us.
If we already know Him as our Lord and Savior He has promised to answer us when we call. Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know. Jerimiah 33:3 (NAS) My teacher swimming beside me reminds me how God sent The Holy Spirit to be with us always. Whatever deep water we go through He is constantly with us. When we are frightend we need only to look to God for courage. In Joshua 1:9 God tells us, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
When this event happened I was not aware of the deeper lessons that God would open to me later in life. I was only twelve years old. I only understood a little. As my life moved on, God in His goodness showed me lessons through what had happened earlier in my life that had a scriptural application. God can do that. He can make the cloudy clear and change the darkness into light. He is good, all the time, in shallow or deep water, in sun or in storm. He is faithful and He is a God who loves. Praise Him Always.
The water in the motel pool was glistening and smelled like the usual chlorine treated pool. There were about twenty or so people playing in various places in the pool and a few more lounging in chairs and on towels around the edge of the pool as well. As I stood at the edge there were two things on my mind: cooling off from the heat of this summer day and showing off my newly acquired swimming skills. There were so many people in the pool and around the edge of it I was sure that someone would see me as I did the American crawl that I had learned at home in Michigan. Somewhere in my room was my little card that said I had successfully completed the beginners swimming course. I was going to prove to myself and all watching that I could swim.
I stroked and kicked from the shallow edge of the pool toward the rope that was stretched across the middle of the pool. I thought that in all pools the deep end started at the rope. My mother was sitting on one side of the pool in a lounge chair and my father stood somewhere on the other side of the pool. It was a beautiful day in Paris, Texas and we all were enjoying the luxury of a motel with a pool.
As I swam confidently toward the rope I began to feel tired. I did not want to stop showing off my skill so I kept swimming toward to the rope. When I reached the rope I put my feet down. There was no bottom. The pool bottom was designed differently than the pools I had been in before. The deepest part was in the middle where the rope was stretched across. I panicked. I forgot how to swim. As I bobbed to the surface of the water I screamed for help, thrashed my arms and kicked my feet to no avail.
An older girl nearby told me to float on my back. From the side of the pool my mother watched and listened. In a fraction of a second she was out of her chair and headed for the pool. Mom’s broomstick skirt billowed out like a hot air balloon as she leaped through the air toward the liquid surface. From the other edge of the pool a fully dressed man ran toward the water and jumped into the pool. My father swam toward my mother and I.
My mother and the unknown older girl pushed me to the side of the pool. My father reached my mother and pushed her to the edge. Hands pulled and pushed me onto the cement surface surrounding the pool. More hands pulled my mother onto the surface and then gently lowered her into a lounge chair. The pool was empty of it’s previous occupants. Somebody looked at me and said, “she’s OK.” People gathered around my mother touching her and looking at her. Finally someone announced, “she’s in shock.” I wondered what it meant that my mother was, “in shock.” She was really just dripping wet. Nothing electric had touched my mother. Now that I am a mom and grandma I know my mom also felt humiliated with all the attention.
The following summer I was signed up for swimming lessons. The lessons went well until test day. I was not afraid of the water as long as I knew where the bottom was and that I could touch it with my feet while my head remained out of the water. I did very well making the strokes and kicks that were taught in class. I did not expect to get the Intermediate card at the end of class. I was not going to swim in the deep water. I blubbered and reasoned with my sweet patient teacher that I could NOT take the test. Maybe I could just do the same thing in shallow water. Finally my teacher said something that changed the outcome of my test as well as my outlook on many things later in my life. She said, “ I’ll go with you.” As I reached the deep water I looked over at her and she said, “ I’m here.” I received my Intermediate Swimmer Card.
During the rest of the summer I swam in the deep end at the pool and even plunged off the high diving board many times. Sad to say, I forgot the name of that swimming instructor but I have remembered her as one of my best teachers. The important lessons she taught me were not in the Red Cross Swimming Instructor’s lesson guide. These lessons were: many times in life there are things we cannot do alone and we must accept help to succeed. When we fail we must try again. There are times that someone else will need me to swim beside them in deep water just like my teacher did for me. I need to watch for opportunities to help.
There were other lessons that I learned when reflecting on this experience. I thought of how my mother and father sat by the pool and watched and listened for me. When they saw and heard me in trouble they acted for my safety. God is like that. He watches and waits for us. It reminds me that those who do not know Him as Savior can call on Him to save them. God's Word says that God demonstrated His love toward us that when we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) As sinners we are like I was as a drowning victim. I thought I was good enough and that I had the skill to swim but I was not. God even tells us in His Word that all our good deeds in life (rightousness) are like filthy rags. He says what we do (good works, going to church etc.) comes short of the standard we would need to meet (the glory of God) to come to HIM. I couldn't save myself. God wants us to recognize that we need His help and He wants us to call on Him. He is waiting and watching for that call and He will answer and rescue whoever calls on His name.
When I think of my mother and father jumping into the pool it seems like an example of Christ who saw I was helpless but did not think of Himself. My parents humiliated themselves to save me. They only thought of saving me, not the embarassment and spectacle of two fully dressed people jumping in the pool. They loved me. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's only Son became a man on earth and came into a scene where He was humiliated. First He was born in a humble place, a cave where animals were housed. He had no place He called home as He walked among men during His early ministry. He was unjustly arrested and tried. Think of the humiliation of being beaten, spit upon, mocked and hung naked on a wooden cross to endure a horrible death when He was pure and holy and had done nothing to deserve what He bore for the sins of the world which included ME and YOU. He endured this humility willingly because God's Word says He loves us.
If we already know Him as our Lord and Savior He has promised to answer us when we call. Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know. Jerimiah 33:3 (NAS) My teacher swimming beside me reminds me how God sent The Holy Spirit to be with us always. Whatever deep water we go through He is constantly with us. When we are frightend we need only to look to God for courage. In Joshua 1:9 God tells us, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
When this event happened I was not aware of the deeper lessons that God would open to me later in life. I was only twelve years old. I only understood a little. As my life moved on, God in His goodness showed me lessons through what had happened earlier in my life that had a scriptural application. God can do that. He can make the cloudy clear and change the darkness into light. He is good, all the time, in shallow or deep water, in sun or in storm. He is faithful and He is a God who loves. Praise Him Always.
posted by Marjorie Meinzinger @ 7:43 PM
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