Life isn't always a leisurely swim across the pool

You don’t know if you really know how to swim until you venture out into deep waters. Or in my case, if you jump into 5 feet of water (I am 4-foot, 11 inches) and don’t drown.

I didn’t sink. I didn’t exactly float smoothly and eloquently across the glassy waters like a swan either. I kicked and splashed, managing to keep my head above water, and made it safely to shore. Then I got out dripping wet but confident enough to go jump into the 12 feet at the Portales city swimming pool when I was a pre-teen in the late 1970s.

My sister Becky kept urging me to go off the diving board for the first time that summer after assuring me I knew how to swim.

I walked over to the 12 feet and climbed onto the low diving board. I held my breath, plugged my nose and jumped into the heavy waves, which, rather than weighing me down in their depth, lifted me up and carried me safely to shore with a few strokes of my arms and feet.

What’s the moral of this story? Life is not always a leisurely swim across the pool. Sometimes we struggle to keep our head above water and only get to shore by making a big splash and kicking.

I love swimming and used to dream about water often. I once read that water represents sensual desires. I don’t think so. I think images of water are more about our thirst for God and also represent baptism and cleansing.

In my spiritual studies, I have become intrigued by this transparent fluid — water — that brings both refreshment and life.

My favorite saint, St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spanish nun, wrote in her book “The Interior Castle,” that “Nothing good in us springs from ourselves but comes from the waters of grace near which the soul remains like a tree planted beside a river.”

In the Bible, we can read about St. Peter walking on water. For him it was literal. For us, it may mean taking chances and stepping out into the unknown. Peter walked on water, but only when he did it instinctively. When he thought about it is when he began to sink.

I’ve been guilty of overthinking problems. Sometimes overthinking leads to sinking. We just have to do what we have do and should do so with faith, even as the tide rises higher and higher. Then it’s time to “ride the tide,” as surfers say, but I’m talking about swimming here, soul swimming.

And even if we do start to sink, well … that is when Peter held on to Jesus tighter and was led safely ashore.

Helena Rodriguez is a Portales native. Contact her at: [email protected]