The Parable of the Swimming Lessons

We are all more like children than we would ever admit.

This past week the kids started swimming lessons at the city pool, the same place where we went last year for lessons and the same pool we drive by numerous times during the year. Since class is at 11:15, there have been times before lessons that we have run to the store and then planned to go straight to class. Every time we have done this, my sweet seven year-old gets very concerned. "Mom, do you know how to get to the pool from Target? You know the way, right?" Mind you we have been driving by the City Pool all year and have lived in St. George for three years now. I think I know where it is.

Once we arrive to the pool, most every day Anna points out that there are already people in the pool. Are we late for lessons? Did we miss class? I always have to assure her that it is the class before ours, we're on time, and I wouldn't let her miss her class. Sometimes I wonder if she has any faith in me. Hasn't she learned that I always make sure she is where she needs to be when she needs to be?

I saw a very good lesson in this experience of how I, and all of us, often do the same thing to our Heavenly Father. There have been so many times in my life when I have prayed about something and gotten the answer of peace, only to have some new and unforeseen challenge arise that causes me stress and fear. When the Lord said everything would be okay did He know a leak would appear in the water main under our driveway, Rachel would refuse to go to swimming lessons, and I would be sick for a week? Did He know about the bad economy that would be coming, my family dramas, and lack of sleep due to a baby? When He said I would be able to handle being a bishop's wife did He know there would be days of tears and despair, loneliness and sometimes frustration? Did He really know what He was talking about? Did He consider all the factors involved when He told me to have peace? I don't know what He is doing, but this isn't what I had planned on.

Obviously, the answer is "yes" because the Lord knows all things. Yet how often do we trust in Him and the answers and peace He gives us? Sometimes it is easy to go forward and weather the storms, but other times a wave will come out of nowhere and knock us off our feet, leaving us to wonder if the Lord really knows what He is doing. How silly of us to doubt! Just like I get my daughter to swimming lessons on time every day, despite her fears, the Lord knows what He is doing with each one of us and will guide us home if we put our trust in Him. He knows what is going to happen, even if we don't. So even in those tough times, we need to have faith and know that He will take care of us. If we put our life in His hands, He will bring us safely through and fulfill all that He has promised.

Of course, it's easier to preach about it than practice sometimes. Trials can often be distracting and take our focus off of the Lord. I'll just have to keep working on getting better and think of the parable of the swimming lessons. Until then I am sure there are times when the Lord listens to me doubt and thinks "Sue, just trust me. I know what I am doing" with the same amused reaction I have each day when Anna questions me. One day I'll get it. One day . . .