Article November 16, 2015 Issue

Swim lessons and spiritual growth

Emily Martin

This past summer I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Grenada on a trip with other teenagers who are Christian Scientists. It was an amazing experience! I felt so surrounded by divine Love everywhere I went, and I had many healing experiences throughout the trip.

Our group’s goals while there were to teach swim lessons to children and teenagers, refurbish a community center, and spend time with the kids at a children’s home. Teaching swimming lessons was one of the most rewarding experiences to me, and knowing that I was impacting people in such a positive way felt so good. But even more important was the opportunity for us to see the kids as spiritual, loved, and cared for by their Father-Mother God, and to know that, because of who they truly were as God’s children, they were capable of great things. Seeing their true God-given identity and potential helped me grow spiritually, too.

One afternoon, we had just taught two groups of kids in the morning. After they left, a friend and I wanted to swim out to a buoy. The buoy marked the end of the designated swimming area for the beach, and our group had been cleared to swim out to it. Our class leaders, along with our host in Grenada, had encouraged us to try to swim to it before we left. (A lifeguard was there because this was at a popular beach in front of the local dive and beach rental shops.) I have never really liked swimming out into the sea very far, so this was a stretch for me.

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