Headfirst Living
Even though it’s still warm in Louisiana in October, it always seems that we go from summer to fall so quickly. One minute the flowers are blooming, the grass is green, and the swimming pool is full of happy swimmers; the next minute, the leaves are falling, and my pool is silent. We had swimmers the last weekend in September and that will probably be it until March, when the begging to heat the pool begins.
My new swimmers are young, less than four years old, so we’re a few years away from true diving lessons with this new crop of “greats”, but I remember the days well. Twelve of my grandchildren are eight years apart so there were many summers of “watch me” tricks happening in my back yard. One spring, the pool was full of my grands begging to learn a new trick. Their lips were slightly blue as the pool hadn’t heated up yet and I was adamant about not getting in the water. Diving was something I had done in my younger years to some level of “good”, but this was many years later, plus the water was too cold (wisdom comes with old age). I was willing to join the ranks of most aging coaches and teach by telling instead of doing. I was happy to impress a group of freezing seven to ten-year-old’s with my wisdom alone (yeah, right!).
The dive of choice that spring was the back dive. They had all pretty much mastered a front dive, but a back dive was still challenging. So, my expertise was needed. I always start by having the diver put their toes right on the edge of the board while facing backwards. Then, I tell them to just bend backwards. At this point, I hold them by the waist until their little bodies are almost bend in half (oh, to be young again) and then I drop them in the water. The purpose for this is to let them experience the feeling of going off something backwards, even if it is in slow motion. They must learn to trust what their body is doing. Then I would give them a little lecture about successful diving (I’m so impressive, don’t you think?). I tell them there is a secret to diving and here it is. You must FOLLOW YOUR HEAD and your head must do the right thing. That’s it. The secret to a successful dive is to let your head be the leader. Pretty simple, isn’t it? But it’s true. Whatever your head does, your body will have to do. It’s only logical. Your head can’t go one way and your body another. The proof of this being true comes while watching or performing a dive that’s gone wrong. The dreaded belly flop or back buster is the result of a body following a head that is doing the wrong thing. The mechanics of that happening is this, the diver’s head is going in the right direction, doing the right thing, then panic sets in and he/she lifts their head and tries to go another direction. The body, knowing it must follow the head, does so, and that’s when an “ouch” moment happens. The result is not pleasant—it usually involves some red blotches on the body. Had the diver just let his head guide his body in the correct direction and trusted that his head was doing the right thing, everything would have been fine.
Several years ago, I realized how true this philosophy is in our Christian walk. Think about Paul’s words in Ephesians when he wrote about Christ being the head of the church. He said, “God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.” If Christ is our head, then it makes sense that if we follow him, our lives will be a lot smoother. The belly flops and back busters of life will be kept to a minimum and we’ll score a big 10 on the heavenly scorecards. But there is more.
Later in Ephesians 5, we’re told to be imitators of Christ. Eventually, the kids would begin to beg me to show them a dive. I’m sure part of it was to see if I really could do it, but mostly it’s because imitation is a great way to learn to do something correctly. In the spring, I always stick to my guns and stay out of cool water. I would tell them I’ll do it when it gets warmer (hoping they would forget). The principle, again, is the correct one. We all learn better when we SEE what we must do. The scriptures are full of examples of Godly living. We can SEE the actions of Christ by reading about His life, and His plan for our life.
Once we understand that Christ is our head, and that by following Him, our lives will be better, then we should strive to look to His perfect example to show us how to perform or behave. Every dive that is executed with the headfirst isn’t a perfect dive, but it’s closer. When we follow Christ, God’s hand is on our back guiding our every step and helping us reach perfection in Him. There will be no perfection outside of Him, but in Him—a perfect 10—every time. And guess what? You can yell, “Watch this” to God a million times a day and He’ll look—every single time.
Have a great week, looking to the Lord for wisdom, guidance, peace, patience, or anything else you need this week.
