Lake Michigan

As I stood there, ankle deep in Lake Michigan’s icy waters…I wondered.  How in the world am I gonna get my whole body in this so I can swim? It’s so cold it almost hurts the skin.  I took a step farther in, swished around a bit and kept thinking how this is so like my life!  So much on the horizon–eldest daughter’s senior year, the search for college and resources for college, a new school year for teaching art to K-8th grades, son’s going into high school, fourth grade and a new teacher for Maddie, responsibilities, family concerns, friends in  need.

As I inch forward, I wonder how I’m going to wade into these icy, unknown waters.  How will I ever swim into and through all this? Will I drown?  Freeze in the depth of it all?  Overwhelmed by the vastness of all that weighs down on me?

A few more steps in, and I remember, flinching at the cold, that I am not alone.  Husband, children, family, friends are not merely who I DO FOR, but are also a support…there to take my hand when the waters grow deep and say, “Hang in there!”  I’m also aware that He who MADE the waters and everything on the horizon, will walk with me as well.  He who created my future also HOLDS the future and ME in it.

The waters are feeling a touch warmer and I move farther in, feeling the water surround me and resist my gravity.

Yah.  It’s cold.  Scandinavian cold.  But I soon realize the waters which struck fear and wincing, are now actually holding me up.  I’m treading, floating, beginning to swim.

Yes there’s a blue tinge to my lips.  It is evidence.  Evidence that I’m actually out here IN IT, living, swimming, being upheld by the very waters which I feared.  I’m no longer on the beach, watching everyone else out in the water.

How did I get here?

One step at a time.

A while later, I leave the waters to dry off, noticing that I’m actually refreshed and able to enjoy the sun, which was oppressive prior to my lake excursion.  I realize that this is how I can face the horizons of my life, as I return to Kernersville…

One step at a time.

0 thoughts on “Lake Michigan

  1. Timaree says:

    I love the story and the picture. I tend to be a “stand on the sidelines” kind of person but have jumped into my daughter’s pool a few times this year. It’s not even cold like Lake Michigan!

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