When I was a child, my mother enrolled me in swimming lessons. She had been a competitive swimmer in school and we lived near Lake Ontario, so she thought that it was important for me and my two younger sisters to learn how to swim.
Many of those lessons took place in the morning in an outdoor pool – an unheated, outdoor pool. I remember one morning when the water was so cold, that a frog, who had unhappily landed in the pool, was shocked into a living rigor mortis! We soon joined the frog with equally frozen stiff limbs!
Although I did learn how to swim, it wasn’t all that enjoyable for me because I had to struggle to stay afloat. Treading water long enough to pass my swim test was an agony. I just couldn’t seem to bob along merrily.
I loved being in the water – just as long as I was sure that my feet could touch the bottom! But, deep water always held a bit of a terror for me.
Fast forward many years and I suddenly discovered that I was able to float – with a minimum of effort on my part. I have discovered that there is one good thing to middle-age, menopausal weight gain – fat floats! So now I can bob along quite merrily. It is a simple joy to just lay back, relax and float.
My hubby and I have often talked about going to a spa to try out a floatation therapy tank. Below is a description taken from a spa website:
Clients typically enter a private spa room outfitted with a floatation tank that holds 93-degree water containing 1,000 pounds of pharmaceutical-grade Epsom salts. The water is as dense as the Dead Sea, where one can float on the surface effortlessly without any body manipulation. Clients enter the tank nude, wearing earplugs and close the hatch behind them. They then lie back and float for 60 to 90 minutes in complete darkness. Because the temperature of the water is the same as skin temperature, within a few minutes you lose the sensation of where the body stops and the water starts.
I think that it would be just wonderful to lay in warm water in a quiet and soothing atmosphere – just floating in relaxing bliss.
This past weekend I attended a women’s conference at my church. Its focus was on encouraging us to spend more time carrying out what is commonly known as “the great commission” – that being, to make disciples of others.
Mat 28:19 Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
I used to get enthusiastically fired up and raring to go after such teachings, however, this time, I just wasn’t feeling it. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable – perhaps a but guilty or condemned. I kept doing an internal systems check to see if I could find the problem, but I couldn’t come up with anything specific.
After a time of prayerful introspection, I came to the conclusion that I am just at a stage of ‘floating’. By that I mean that I am currently floating in a relaxing, spiritual bliss, safe in the loving arms of my Heavenly Father.
In a previous post , Striving vs. Living, I wrote the following:
“I [have] discovered the truth that the main purpose for my life was to have a close and loving relationship with my Heavenly Father, my Abba. This is something that I am able to do 24/7, whether or not I am attending church, carrying out ministry or volunteer work, or just staying at home.
I must confess though, that because I am a “do-er” type of person, and because I know the great need of this world and have a sense of urgency, I can still struggle with the feeling that I need/should be “doing” more. But I try to allow God to be the one to open up opportunities for ministry rather than me “chasing” them. I also try to remember to “bloom where I am planted”, which at this time, is looking after my beloved husband, and “being there” for my sons and mother, all of whom are struggling with various life’s challenges.
Now, instead of always feeling like I need to be constantly striving to carry out some sort of “work” for God, I spend much more time enjoying living with Him – no matter what I am doing.”
I have spent several years in active ministry. Even now, I lead a weekly women’s Bible study and I write this blog. I also try to do my best to share God’s truth, and Jesus’ way of living, with all the people in my life.
My life has been filled with a lot of stress over the past year and I am feeling a bit wrung out. But I have been finding comfort in the peaceful knowing that my God understands and that He is okay with me just ‘floating’ in His arms of love.
Come float with me.
Blessings
I am carried in the arms of grace and love divine
I am held by hands of healing washed by water pure
Lifting up my heavy heart held in grace scarred hands
I am carried in the arms of grace and love divine
Geoff Bullock
heartshabitation 