In discussion with friends today I remembered my 1st grade swimming lessons. While trying to coax me to jump off the diving board into the deep end, my swimming instructor (all 17 years of him that my six-year-old self had a crush on) begged me "pretty please, with a cherry on top" to jump into the pool where he would catch me. *Sigh* I couldn't do then what I still can't do now....but that's a tangent that I won't take today.
Anyway, since then every time I jump from the diving board (or even the occasional dive) I often think as I step away, "There's no turning back now." I even one time used that (pre-seminary) as the repetitive phrase in a sermon. There is no turning back, though. No matter how much I will it, once I step off that diving board I can not will myself back to it without first getting wet.
And once again I've stepped. Maybe not off, but closer to the edge of the board.
Once I do jump, there's no turning back and getting back on the board. There will be chances to try a dive again, new pools to jump into, but I will be part of the pool. Or as some of my colleagues call it, the draft. My paperwork is in for the next step in my career (although nothing will be concretely decided for a while yet). Maybe I haven't quite stepped off the diving board, but I'm taking one step closer to the edge. I will jump, even if there isn't an attractive swimming instructor waiting to catch me (but I won't complain if there is). I will mean it when I say, "I will and I ask God to help and guide me."
1 comment:
You have a bunch of people cheering for you. Don't forget that!
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