Glimpses of the Kingdom of God – in the pool
I frequent the Caroline YMCA pool in the mornings. I used to walk and run and I loved that, but my feet didn’t. After surgery on both feet, my podiatrist said that I could keep running, but I would have more pain and more surgery. I gave it up. I had to find a form of exercise that didn’t put pressure on my feet. So when the Y opened here, I started going to the water fitness classes. I loved them. Exercise without sweat. After a while, I decided I was ready to learn how to actually swim – like real strokes, not just what I had taught myself to do growing up. So I took lap swimming lessons a few years ago and made swimming my primary form of exercise. (Yes, shoulder surgery ensued, but we won’t go into that right now…)
So on good days, I drop my daughter off at school and then head to the Y to swim. I like to go to lane 6, far away from the fitness classes so I don’t splash people and they don’t splash me. But recently there has been an adult swimming lesson going on in that lane some mornings, so I have moved to lane 4, right next to the classes. And while I’m swimming, I’ve noticed some things.
The water fitness classes at the Y involve a huge variety of people. There are mostly women, but more than just one token man as well. The participants are mostly older at the morning classes, but there is a variety of ages represented. I’ve seen teenagers there in the summer when school is out. There are people of different sizes and shapes – all in their bathing suits. There are people with a variety of skin tones – from very dark to very pale. There are people with various levels of physical ability – some are in the therapy pool, walking slowly and using the water as safe resistance and others are doing aqua jogging in the deeper water getting their heart rates way up.
There are the introverts of the pool too. Those like me who find a lane away from everyone and swim laps. The woman who comes on her own when classes aren’t in session wearing her headphones and dancing the water all alone.
The other morning as I was swimming, I couldn’t help but think about the community that is there in that pool. The people who come to the classes have formed a tight knit community. They care about each other, miss each other when someone is sick or away. They go out to lunch once a month. One day this week, the warm water class was in the therapy pool. I was the only person in the exercise pool. A man walked out of the locker room and the ladies fromm the class all greeted him. It reminded me of the old show, “Cheers,” when Norm would come in. He returned their greeting and talked for a few seconds with them – all of them laughing. Then he got in the exercise pool to wait for the upcoming class.
I thought to myself how the great the community there in the pool is. People of different ages, races, shapes, sizes and abilities all coming together to try and be healthier. They support each other and love each other. Probably some of them were self-conscious at first about being in public in a bathing suit, but that isn’t an issue. As I finished up swimming, took my shower and made my way to the church that morning, I couldn’t help but think that the Kingdom of God must look a bit like the pool at the YMCA.