The Pool and the Simile

I have had the boys in swimming lessons the last two weeks. We go to an outdoor pool, which has it's advantages (getting to be out in the sun in moderate weather) and disadvantages (having to be out in the sun on 100 degree days.).

I'm presently pretty warm -though it might only be 80 at the moment, the pool has an all brick surround (hot and breezeless) and concrete on the ground (absorbs the sun and releases it into your feet) so it always feels 10 degrees hotter here than it really is. Now I'm not a complainer about the heat, I did live in Texas for awhile and so I can appreciate the mildness of Northwest heat vs. Southern heat. Besides, our humidity is always low, so it is more comfortable than other places.

So as I watch all these kids learn to swim, I am presented with insight.

They all have different form, different strengths and weaknesses. Some of them have great "kicks" and lousy "arm strokes". Some the reverse. Some end up far from where they intended to be when starting out. They might swim at an angle instead of straight, usually because they have a dominant side and a weak side and they have not developed balance. Their instructors gently correct them and steer them the right way.

What I notice is that the instructors never chastise the kids for over-or-under-steering. Now if this were the church they might say "You have too much grace and not enough truth, so you need to study the Bible more". But instead they say, "Try to pull with the left more and the right less. But it takes practice and you're doing just fine".

OOps I did it again! I see analogies in life every day. It drives people around me crazy because I'm always comparing something to something else.

I guess Jesus taught me that. He used everyday life situations to demonstrate a principle. They were called parables, but essentially they were analogies, metaphors or similes. Honestly they are probably more accurately defined by one word than the others, but since I'm sitting by the pool I don't have a dictionary handy. In any case I think you get my drift.

So I guess it's OK to do the metaphor thing. Jesus knew that we learned best when Biblical principles were contextualized in everyday life or given in comparison to realities we could grasp, rather than just being taught as law: "do this because I said to". He not only taught us how to behave and treat others by this method, but he also demonstrated cause and effect, as well.

So if my metaphors drive you crazy, I apologize and say that I learned from the best!