Make a Splash!

2 Timothy 1:6-7 (New Living Translation)
6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

I’ve spent a lot of my time lately thinking about swimming pools. I really can’t help myself. Right about now every summer I begin to wonder why any warm-blooded mammal lives where we do when there are other, cooler places to live. And every year I am convinced that every house here should come standard with a swimming pool. Being able to lazily paddle around might make even 90 degrees and a 1000% humidity bearable. Maybe.

I think I’m at the lazy paddle stage of my life as far as pools go. As I recall, I started out at the “stick a timid tiptoe in and cling to the side or my father or whatever sturdy surface I could reach” stage. I think that lasted until I learned to pick up pennies from the bottom of the pool. I immediately went from the fearful to the fearless “cannonball” stage where every entry required a leap that was more about sound and splash than finesse. All it takes are one or two misdirected cannonballs to move from there to the “proper form” stage. After a class at the YWCA, I learned how to dive properly. Did you know? The idea is to make as little splash as possible! That coincided with the teenage years where I was all about making as little splash as possible, at the pool and everywhere else in life. And now I’ve wandered into “lazy paddle” which is just a little too close to “timid tiptoe” when I have the frequent urges for both the cannonball and the proper form.

What about you? What’s your style? Not a fan of the pool at all? What about life? Or what about using your gifts? Would you rather hang back and wait to be pushed off the sidelines or do you charge in, determined to make a big splash? Would you rather check all the boxes off before you get involved, making sure that you’ve followed all the instructions properly before you can help? Or maybe you aren’t making a splash at all. Maybe you’re in the pool, lazily paddling around. I get caught up in the idea that I’m not (fill in the blank) enough to help or someone else would be better than I am at that or I’m too tired/busy/tired to help now. Sometimes the lazy paddle is where I end up when it comes to using my gifts too.

Maybe none of these is your style. I have a brother who had a signature move: he’d jump once on the diving board, land on his rear end on the diving board, bounce up and flip into the pool. He never thought once about the splash, but more about entertaining the audience. Clearly, he has a completely different style and outlook on life than mine. And that’s true in so many ways! The truth of the matter is that the body of Christ is built of a collection of people, each with a different style and the good news is that we can all make a difference. As Paul says, we haven’t been given a spirit of fear and timidity but of power. All we have to do is take advantage of that power and start making a splash.