I can’t swim.  Oh, I took lessons… learned to float and doggy paddle at the Clifton, NJ YMCA. And I loved playing in the water with my siblings and cousins at Green Pond, a lake in northwestern New Jersey where my aunt and uncle had a cottage.  Didn’t even mind being in water way over my head.  There, in the safe swimming section, we’d jump off the dock or have our dad toss us over his shoulder into the deep water.  I loved it!  But then… I almost drowned.

I was either 10 or 11.  Our family had driven out to the lake for a day of fun.  And here I was laying across a ski board tethered by rope to my uncle’s boat.  I was either very brave or very foolish, but found myself being pulled across the water clinging to that board, enjoying the ride! 

Until the boat took a fast turn… and the wake caught me off guard.  The board flipped over, hit me on the head, and I lost my grip.  Flailing furiously in the water, I tumbled over and over, struggling to hold my breath, trying to break the surface for air when I felt something under my feet… all in a matter of some very long seconds.  Planting my feet down, I stood up, and dared to open my eyes… shocked and absolutely relieved to find I was chest deep in water, standing on a very large rock or a ledge in the “middle” of the lower end of the large lake! 

I was so sure I would drown while flailing around… instead I was safe!!  Trauma clicked in later.  I cannot float, nor can I swim. I sink. Don’t even try to teach me… Ed tried when we were dating, and he quickly found out my panic was very real when he let go of me in the deep end of the pool.  I still need to wear floaties to enjoy the water. 

I’ve long realized I was held in the arms of God that day decades ago.  No one dreamed there would possibly be a rock or ledge with shallow water out there.  My father watched from the shore with his heart in his throat, afraid for my life.  But he never told me that until decades later.

This incident reminds me of how we are loved and held safe in the arms of not only God, but the arms of our family.  As a helpless infant, we are tenderly held and kept safe in our parents’ arms.  As we grow up, their loving arms are still there… ready to protect us and guide us.  Then, all too soon we’re ready to leave the nest and fly off into the world on our own.  At some point between thinking we know it all and realizing we don’t, we bring the wisdom we’ve learned back to our aging parents, understanding what it was they tried to teach us as we now teach our children… and find we’ve come full circle.

And therein I see the arms of God… holding and caring for us, teaching and guiding us… accepting us for who we are because He created us and knows who we are meant to be. 

Safe In My Arms

Linda A. Roorda

 From the very moment that you came to be

You were held safe, safe in my arms

A helpless babe, you looked up to me

Your needs were met with love undivided.

When you fell down and bruised your ego

You came running to comforting arms

You looked for me to answer concerns

Questions of life with wisdom to gain.

But as you grew you looked to yourself

I wasn’t needed, not so much anymore

You thought you held the keys to life’s goals

As facing forward you met the world’s pace.

And then one day you understood all

The depths of love and sacrificial gifts

Your arms reached out to hold me secure

To share with me wisdom you had gained.

Is it not true full circle we’ve come

From infant small to adult mature

And is it not true the life we have lived

Is mirrored within God’s love for us all.

For didn’t His arms hold tightly our life

That when we fell He gently restored

And when we stood alone on life’s stage

We were held safe, safe in His arms.

~~

Photo Credit: Dock at Lower Green Pond, NJ taken by Linda Roorda spring 1974.

Murky image from old camera used specifically in recalling this event.