Article April 15, 2019 Issue

When the stings in our life are healed

Mark Swinney

In daily life, I am so often happily surprised by the unexpected ways that our experiences can become opportunities to put into practice what we know of God, which inevitably helps us learn more about Him. These past years, especially, I’ve found out more about God by turning to Him in different situations—both the pleasant ones and the ones that sting.

I’d like to relate a most interesting experience I had with a jellyfish. Jellyfish of all sorts live in the world’s oceans, and when scuba diving, I am often in awe whenever I come across one. Extending from their bodies are tentacles with many little stinging cells. When food, such as a fish or crustacean, brushes against the tentacles, little darts in the cells impale the prey, preparing it to be eaten. These stinging cells can be used only once, after which the jellyfish must then grow new ones.

One day I swam through a very beautiful jellyfish’s tentacle and got stung up and down my right forearm. It hurt quite a bit, and I saw there on my arm the distinct line of stings. As I finished my dive, I continued to enjoy this exquisite part of the ocean, and I also prayed for myself. Immersed in such splendor, feeling close to God was easy.

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