One of my favorite jobs was lifeguarding at the YMCA.

Some days were a little slow (I remember guarding an empty pool once for hours), but most of the time was spent interacting with people as they swam or as I taught swimming lessons.

A couple of times a week we offered Family Swim and parents would come in with their children to swim, splash, and play in the water. During one of the Family Swim nights, I remember watching a father spend the majority of the time standing in the shallow end with his arms out encouraging one of his children to jump. The child would inch closer to the edge and then back away. Closer again. Back away. But the father remained steady. “I’ll catch you,” was all he’d say.

The whole time this was going on, the father’s other child was swimming all around him. One child was courageously enjoying the water while the other was cautiously considering it. Finally, when the hesitant child sat down on the side of the pool, the father moved in and picked him up and carried him into the water. He didn’t shame him for not jumping.

[Tweet “All of us experience the pool of God’s grace in different ways, but no matter where we are in the pool, the Father sees us.”]

What a beautiful picture of the family of God. All of us experience the pool of God’s grace in different ways — some of us are doing cannonballs in the deep end and others are still trying to get our swimmies pulled up on to our arms! But no matter where we are in the pool, the Father sees us. And for those who are hesitant to jump, He says to us what the father said to his child that night at the Y:

“I’ll catch you.”

Let’s jump into the arms and the grace of God together.