I can vividly picture myself sitting on an airplane, making the three hour flight from Houston to Los Angeles to visit my family; I was reading the book "Everything I Know I Learned in Kindergarten." What a great book. Where would any of us be without those simple lessons that continue to guide our lives? Who we are, in large part, is shaped by the time we are five years old, but I am finding that life lessons can be learned at any age. In fact, if we stop learning and growing, we begin dying, inside and out.
Last week I stepped way out of my comfort zone and landed in a swimming pool. I took swimming lessons when I was a child but without practice or regular exposure to the water anything I learned was soon forgotten; it was replaced by fear. I spent the next forty or so years longing to be able to go to water parks, do activities in and around water, and just plain relax and have fun. The time had come; I donned a bathing suit (does it get any more brave than this?), goggles and stepped over the edge.
A friend is teaching me at her home. No one to see me flail and gasp; no one to laugh as I struggle to coordinate my arms and legs trying to make them do what I want them to do. I am learning under the watchful eye of a kind and patient friend who is able to push with just right amount of gentleness. I feel safe and I also want to make her proud.
The very first thing I learned was "as long as there is air in your lungs you will float." What an amazing difference that little piece of information made to me. With air I will float. Without air I will sink. I left that first day and pondered the bigger picture of this lesson.
When each one of us is born God breathes life into us. He is the air that gives us life. But the physical life is not really what I learned from my floating/sinking experience. Along with my swimming lesson came a week of painful human emotions. I was sinking fast - gasping for air and flailing about; I was truly drowning. But, an amazing thing happened as the week progressed. I prayed. I cried. I prayed while I was crying. Friends prayed for me and the situation. Slowly, I felt the life giving air filling me once again. I was floating in the arms of my God who loves me and ALWAYS carries His children to safety when they cry out for Him.
My week ended with an exhausting yet fun weekend with my precious grandchildren. Children embody the hope and promise for the future. I was filled with God on the inside as I watched life exploding in front of me. A gift of life from the One who gives life.
When life is swirling out of control: breathe. Don't panic, slow down, breathe in through your mouth - out through your nose and be sure to stay filled with the air of life.
Next Lesson: Don't Be Dainty
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