I’ve written about feeling as if I was drowning, only to discover God was holding tightly to me and had designed me to float if I would only relax. Deep water isn’t a bad place to be when I trust him. In fact, I have had several beautiful experiences of being in water far from a shoreline, feeling large swells lift me high and drop me low and finding a calm and beautiful scenes below the surface.
Yet how often is our faith contained to a kiddie pool? We want to see and feel the boundaries. We want some control. We commit to trusting God but only within our defined area. We sometimes want to be able to easily step in and out of faith, proudly claiming it when we feel secure but jumping out when it’s too hot, too cold, too crowded, too lonely, too long, too messy, too inconvenient.
Faith isn’t fixed, within our control. Controlled faith is an oxymoron. Even “our” faith is beyond us. Faith might reside inside us but focuses well beyond us.
When we stay in the kiddie pool, we avoid some fear but also miss freedom.