Our kids grew up kind of spoiled when it came to swimming. When your best friends have an inground pool, you don't really have any need to go anywhere else. Yes, we've been spoiled. Twenty five years later, we are still taking dips in that pool when the temperatures rise. It is just how a weekend should start.
The temperatures continue to be brutal. If you are outside, you need to be in water. The humidity... let's just say I didn't have it in me to fight my curls today. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't waste any time on it. I hoped it would be a night in the pool. I was not disappointed.
Wherever people of the world live, there is almost always a local swimming hole or community pool. Some places have both. "The Pit" and the Clifton Pool were a huge part of summer for many. For us, it was a rare treat. My grandparents always had pools in Kankakee and Bourbonnais, so we didn't get to spend much of our summer hanging with friends. Mama and Dad thought a Sunday swim was plenty. The good news is, swimming with our cousins, aunts and uncles meant we built some solid friendships with our family.
A dip in the pool is good for the mind, body and soul. I can't help but think of the healing pool mentioned in the New Testament. It was said that when the waters bubbled up, the person who managed to make it into the pool first would be healed.
"Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” -John 5:1-8
A dip in the pool is what the man expected. A full healing was what he received. Everything changed for that man because of one dip into the mercy and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Yes, a dip into the pool of his forgiveness and restoration changes everything. What are you willing to risk?
Today, I am grateful for a dip in the pool.
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