Swimming in God's Pool
Open water swimming was never in the discussion during the 1980s when I was on a year-round swim team.
Our swim meets and swim practices were always held in either a 25-meter or a 50-meter indoor/outdoor pool. However, when I re-entered this sport in 2018, open water swimming was very much in the discussion. Open water swimming is swimming that takes place in a lake, a river, or an ocean. There are swim practices as well as swim meets that take place in open water around the world.
The foreign idea of open water swimming became less and less of a daunting task and something that started becoming more and more interesting to me as I re-entered this sport in 2018. As I was building up my swim endurance and getting more familiar with the swim strokes that I had not swum in years, I began to prep myself for my first ever open water swim practice in 2021. Months prior to my first open water swim practice, I watched YouTube videos and talked with others about their experience in open water. I purchased a new swim apparatus that I would need for the practice – a swim buoy for open water swimming. A swim buoy is a fluorescent-colored flotation device that attaches to a belt worn by the swimmer. It has two purposes. First, its bright color allows the swimmer to be seen by boaters, kayakers, paddleboarders, and other swimmers. Secondly, it can be used for a swimmer to hold onto for rest since the usual places for rest in a regular pool, such as the side of the pool or the bottom of the pool, are not options in open water swimming. (To be honest, I was not very enthusiastic about having to wear this swim buoy because I feared that it would just hinder my swimming by getting in the way.)
As I entered the lake alongside the group of experienced open water swimmers, with my familiar swim cap and goggles worn firmly on my head and the belt of the swim buoy around my waist, I was ready to embark on this 1.2-mile swim. When I first entered the water and began swimming, I immediately felt like I was on a water treadmill. I was exerting all of this energy and I felt like I was going absolutely nowhere. Feeling very discouraged, I immediately stopped and held on to my buoy and asked one of the kayakers who was spotting us during this group swim if I was moving forward. I know, dumb question, right? But I needed some reassurance from a spectator that I was moving forward because I did not feel like I was. The kayaker then reassured me that I was moving and pointed back to where we started for me to the see distance that I in fact did travel. I was very surprised to see the distance that I had already swum even though I did not feel like I had moved from our starting position. When our group stopped for our first rest break, I immediately asked the group if this was a typical swim. They pointed out the waves were very choppy and that was not very typical for this lake. I never thought about the choppiness of the waves before. No wonder I felt like I was on a water treadmill. Being a pool swimmer, I never had to consider the choppiness of waves since they were always constant – smooth, never choppy. As we reconvened the 1.2-mile swim, the waves started settling down and the swim became more enjoyable and less frustrating. I was thinking to myself: “Thank goodness!” The smoothness of the water began to feel more like that of a pool – a feeling that was very familiar and therefore comforting.
Swimming for the first time in God’s pool made me realize that lakes and oceans are indeed His pools.
They are not man-made like regular swimming pools where the waves are always smooth and the temperature is controlled. In God’s pool, you never know what to expect. The waters may be choppy, smooth, cold, or warm. Swimming in God’s pool reminds me that He is all-powerful and I am indeed reliant on Him. I felt so close to my Heavenly Father that day, and He taught me a valuable lesson as I was so frustrated with swimming for the first time in choppy waves. I must change my mindset when I experience choppy waves in the future. Even though I did not feel like I was moving forward, I was moving forward. I just have to keep reminding myself that I am moving forward despite how I feel. This is so true with meeting the challenges of the choppy waves of life. We feel like we are on a water treadmill. We are exerting all of this energy and getting nowhere in life. But you know what? We are moving forward with our lives even though we do not feel it. This revelation is huge because this reminds us that we are progressing through those choppy waves of life and those choppy waves will settle. We have to keep hoping and believing they will settle down and life will be calm again.
I wished that a swimmer would have shared his/her experience of swimming in choppy waves and tips on how to overcome that on a YouTube video. This would have helped me prep for my first experience in open water. It would have warned me about such a thing and how to overcome such a thing. It is so important for us to share our life experiences, for all of our “lake conditions” will be different. There will be someone who is experiencing the same type of “lake condition” that you have experienced. Sharing our tips will be invaluable to others and just may be the answer to a long-awaited prayer request. You may be the instrument used by our Heavenly Father to bring about a solution to someone’s life. To make someone’s life a little easier.
(Oh, and by the way, swimming with the swim buoy turned out to be a success. It never hindered my swimming. In fact, I forgot that I even had it on.)