Diving In

There were a lot of reasons to be scared at my first City and County swim meet.

Other than being a beginning-ish swimmer, never racing before, being with kids and adults much better than me, not knowing the lingo of “heats” and “blocks” etc, a crowd of parents and kids from different parks lined up along the fence staring in and videotaping, and all while in my swim suit with no makeup on, there was a lot going through my head.

But as I stood on the side waiting for my turn, I suddenly heard this poem by Theodore Roosevelt come into my mind and it helped me to stand a little taller. As I soaked in the present moment, I realized that I was inside the fence, about to get into the pool. Rather than being a spectator, I had dove in when my kids starting swimming so I could learn too and signed up for the classes, showed up to the practices, said “yes” to an invitation to experience a swim meet.

I now share this famous poem with you that helped me drown out the voices in the crowd and the negative thoughts in my head, and helped me dive in:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

Do you need to dive in to something that’s hard or scary?

Let’s find peace by piece in knowing that God will never leave us nor foresake us.

Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” -Deuteronomy 31:6