Day 8 - Swimming without Armbands

Sameness is like staying enclosed within the same four walls. At first it feels comfortable. We feel held and enjoy exploring the room and discovering all the new things held there. However, gradually, as the weeks become months, the things we first delighted in become stale, stayed and stagnant and we grow bored of them. We want more excitement. We want adventure.

But we have this dilemma. In order to open the door into a new room, we have to leave behind everything we know in this room. Unfortunately, the door to that room is made of solid wood and we can’t glimpse through it to see what’s on the other side.

We are fearful of leaving behind the known for the unknown and ask God what’s ahead. Sometimes he shares what he can see. Sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he simply just wants us to walk trusting him, with no rails to hold onto, but believing that there is something of real worth and beauty beyond that door.

And this is where most people fail. They refuse to leave behind what they know until God lets them see through the next door into the beyond. This way they feel safe and in control. However, the first lesson that God wants to teach them is that there is no such thing as being in control. It is a myth; an illusion. And so he takes them to a place where they discover their own vulnerability, but also their own strength.

It is as if they have been swimming with armbands. They love their armbands for they keep them afloat and they don’t have to worry about sinking. Our armbands are all the things in our lives that help us feel in control. However, God knows that in order to swim beneath the waves, deep into the ocean of this other world, the very things that keep us feeling safe are also the very things which will prevent us seeing all that is hidden in this unseen world.

Therefore, he has to either gradually begin to let the armbands down or he takes them off straight away. He knows that only children learning to swim need armbands to give them confidence. But how many cross-channel swimmers do you see swimming in armbands? None. At some stage, they were able to leave behind these artificial supports and grew to trust that they could swim without them.

Of course, many fear that they will drown if their supports are removed. But God only removes them when he wants them to learn to believe that they can swim without them. He can tell them that they can until he is blue in the face. But he knows that the only way they will ever truly believe him, is if they can see it with their own eyes. He therefore has to release them from everything keeping them afloat in order that they learn to trust in who he has created them to be.

At first this can be truly terrifying. You know you can’t touch the bottom anymore and must learn not to panic and flail your arms around, as that only makes things worse. You wish God had taken you into the water gradually so that you had that blessed reassurance of never getting out of your depth. However often, it’s as if God throws you into the deep end, not to scare or frighten you, but in order that you can learn to survive and adapt as quickly as possible. Why would he do that if he didn’t know you could swim without armbands? He knows you can. He just needs you to know it as well.

So, at this time, if many of your supports feel as if they are being deflated, remember this analogy and know that what God has faithfully begun in you he will bring to completion. He sees the cross-channel swimmer in you and there are no armbands needed.

How important is it for you to be in control?

Think of a time when you were no longer in control. How did it make you feel? What positive lessons about yourself or life did you learn from that experience?

What are the supports in life that you would find most difficult to lose?

What supports have you had to let go of in life. For each one, think about how this has made you a stronger and more confident swimmer?