As a child, our family holidays were always spent at the seaside, usually in the north of Scotland. I always wanted to be able to swim but for various reasons never learned.
As an adult, I finally decided to take swimming lessons and really enjoyed them. The teacher was in the pool with me, and this gave me confidence. Soon I was able to swim a breadth. The next step was to swim a length!
Starting from the shallow end one day, I was managing quite well until I realized I was out of my depth. The teacher was swimming beside me, but as she was between me and the side of the pool, I couldn’t hold on to the side.
I was tempted to panic, but at that moment words from a psalm came to my thought: “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalms 139:9, 10).
These verses affirm that regardless of where we are, whether it is in “the uttermost parts of the sea” or in a swimming pool, God is always with us, holding and supporting us. We need never
be afraid. His hand will lead us in whatever we have to do.
Although I was unable to contemplate these verses for long at the time, the message met my need in that split second. I completed the length without any fear.
A hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal, referring to God, says:
He knows the angels that you need,
And sends them to your side,
To comfort, guard and guide.
(Violet Hay, No. 9, © CSBD)
The words from that psalm were indeed the angels sent to “comfort, guard and guide” me.
Ishbel H. Graham
