Why Swimming is Like Life
So, in light of my first triathlon and the troubles I've had swimming, I have re-devoted myself to the pursuit and today, I had an epiphany of sorts. Swimming is like life...
Swimming is all about learning to be comfortable in a potentially deadly environment, one that is foreign and not very hospitable to air-breathing life. In swimming, I have learned to put my face in the water where life-giving oxygen is lacking. In order to survive in this environment, I must return to the air by rotating so as to look up. Briefly, I take in the air and then return my face to the water because that's where the work is. While in water, I move as fast and as economically as possible so that I can conserve and best utilize my air until such time as I can return to it. When my workout is done, I will return to that place where air is bountiful and I don't have to worry about it any more.
In the same way, as Christians, we live in a world that is light on grace, heavy on law. This world is potentially deadly to us; if we stay there too long we will suffocate and drown, so we need to turn our face toward Jesus regularly and breathe deeply of his grace. All the while, trying to move with the least amount of resistance (i.e. sin) so as to use this grace efficiently and effectively. When my work here is done, I will return to the place where grace abounds and I won't have to worry anymore.
Okay, so it needs some more "fleshing out" but it's what came to me during my oxygen-deprived state of swimming this afternoon.
Swimming is all about learning to be comfortable in a potentially deadly environment, one that is foreign and not very hospitable to air-breathing life. In swimming, I have learned to put my face in the water where life-giving oxygen is lacking. In order to survive in this environment, I must return to the air by rotating so as to look up. Briefly, I take in the air and then return my face to the water because that's where the work is. While in water, I move as fast and as economically as possible so that I can conserve and best utilize my air until such time as I can return to it. When my workout is done, I will return to that place where air is bountiful and I don't have to worry about it any more.
In the same way, as Christians, we live in a world that is light on grace, heavy on law. This world is potentially deadly to us; if we stay there too long we will suffocate and drown, so we need to turn our face toward Jesus regularly and breathe deeply of his grace. All the while, trying to move with the least amount of resistance (i.e. sin) so as to use this grace efficiently and effectively. When my work here is done, I will return to the place where grace abounds and I won't have to worry anymore.
Okay, so it needs some more "fleshing out" but it's what came to me during my oxygen-deprived state of swimming this afternoon.
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