Nothing worth having comes without tears.
Two summers ago it was mommy-and-me. That consisted of me squeezing into a bathing suit, jumping into a cold pool in front of a bleacher-full of other parents and two-year-old arms strangling me for 25 minutes five days in a row. Last summer it was Level One by herself and she screamed for the first four of nine days of lessons. She was scared of the water. She was scared to put her face beneath the surface and she hated her teacher. This year, however, she jumped right in and was swimming by the end of the two week session.
Swimming!
My littlest one can finally swim {if you consider sporadic kicking, wild arm movements and an occasional throat-full of water swimming}. She’s far from “water safe” but she’s well on her way to independence in the pool.
I’m so proud.
But it’s taken her a few summers of fear, tears and then striking out on her own. Every step has been necessary. Completely necessary.
She was patient. I was patient. And finally, when it was time, the freedom and the joy that has come from her being finally able to kick herself over to the pool wall without help are unmatched. She reaches the side of the pool and grins.
“Look Mama! I made it! Can I go again?” She ducks her head under the water and swims back to me.
Joy.
My husband and I have been wrestling with a difficult decision over the past few months. One we didn’t want to make, but one that we had to make.
At first there was fear. What if we make the wrong choice? What if we spectacularly fail? We put our decision making process in a strangle hold of fear and worry.
And then there were tears. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to put my face under the water because what if
I
can’t
breathe?
But then, there has been independence. The struggle, the pain, the fear and the weeping that has been associate with the difficult decision making has increased our faith bigger than we could have ever imagined. It has taught us to trust God more, to do scary things and to swim unhindered and un-held to the wall.
There is a glimmer of joy on the other end of this process. We can barely see it, we can see the hints. And we know that the tears have been worth it.
Faith. Grace. And now, unexpectedly, joy.
I’m up for an adventure.
Have you had to make a difficult decision lately?
Not today, but I’m on a ride I didn’t realize I purchased a ticket to ride!
Hm. There are often tears before we learn something new, huh?
Yay for your little one! My 8yo only learned to swim this summer. I learned that I don’t have the patience for teaching swimming because I was never afraid of water. My husband, on the other hand, was petrified when he was little. Therefore he was the better teacher. Now the joy on my little man’s face when he puts his head under the water and swims…priceless. And he gets to be “babatized” now. Praying your decision is met with great success in the Lord’s timing.
augh! I can’t stand the teasing! WHAT is the big secret? When do we get to know what it is? Obviously I am not a patient person! LOL Congratulations on your daughter’s accomplishment…overcoming fear and learning a new skill that is going to give her both a measure of safety and of fun throughout her life is wonderful.
Congratulations to your little girl, she must be so thrilled! What a proud moment as a parent, watching your kids step out and make it happen. Thanks also for the encouragement. My little boy at age 6 loves to get in the water but has his boundaries. I needed to be reminded that each step is important. Sometimes I am in such a hurry for my kids to catch on that I forget that.
As always, I love your ability to tie in a meaningful lesson/question.
I’m learning to let go and let God on some things. For me, that’s a pretty big decision. But with it comes faith, grace and joy. Praise God!
I just read the first part of this to my 3 kiddos. I can so relate to the tears and fears of swim lessons- we have one more week to go- and I am praying for some progress. I can also relate to the tears associated with decision making- just this weekend, in fact. Fears and worries and thoughts of failure that make it uncomfortable to face who you are and what you should do with your life.
When I was writing my book, I was writing because of the hurt from infidelity from my husband. I can’t really say that I expected that it would get published, but God has blessed that it is published. Anyway, I struggled with using my real name because I wasn’t sure how my husband would react. It was not my intentions to hurt him. As a matter a fact I used ficticious names so that he would not be embarassed. I prayed about it and felt at peace with using my name. I had to get past the fact that people may know that it really happened to me.
Proud of you for being so brave and adventurous. Difficult decision? No, not really.
My husband and I already made some of those difficult decisions – now trying to learn to swim in these rough waters and constantly trying to catch our breath!
Now the difficult decision is to DAILY DECIDE to trust Jesus, to not stress out, and to ask the Lord to “give us THIS day, our daily bread.”
Not easy at all but WORTH it when I do it!
I, too, remember the summer my youngest learned to swim. It was also the summer I experienced little glimpses of “me” time at the pool. Not to say I didn’t LOVE playing in the pool w/my kids, but it was enough to decide that being done having kids was going to be ok…and possibly even a little exciting.
As you know, being in the middle of hard decisions and following through is the hard part. But it’s always so neat to look back and see how God’s hand was in it all! My mantra has become, “One day at a time”…or better yet, “One hour/minute/second at a time.”
this is great! just what someone in my family is going through and i’ll be sure to pass it along.
Your first line caught me. Now I’m waiting for joy to return… I guess I can’t call it “unexpected” if it does. But, I think the skeptic in me would.
“for the joy set before Him,
Jesus endured the cross
ignoring the shame…”
great words about our Lord
from scripture
that reflect in advance
Noami’s…
& your & Chad’s…
& all of our struggles
to swim towards the joy
that isn’t there just quite yet!
love you,
dad
I love how you teach us through your children, your life.
And hearing that every step, even the fearful, tearful ones, are necessary was a huge blessing. Just to know it not for nothin’. I’m in the middle of making a decision. Feel kind of sick. I’m not that smart and really need His help with this!!!! Thanks, Sarah, for all you do for us and Jesus each day! love, deb
LOVE you
How true this blog is. None of us like going through the rough spots…the unknown…but when our Savior is leading us there is always joy at the end.
It sounds like you guys are going through something very similar to what we’re going through. And with the same reaction. But I’m convinced – once you get to the joy of the adventure – ain’t no going back! I’m addicted to this adventure now. I want some every day. My God is brilliant!