How would I pass the diving test?
My senior year of college, I was taking a springboard diving class as a Physical Education major. The instructor was the head diving coach, and it was an intense class. I would say I was an average diver who could do most basic dives OK.
One day, we were working on a reverse dive, and I couldn’t make myself do it. I was frozen with fear at the thought of possibly hitting my head on the diving board. Then the instructor told us we would be tested on that dive and others during the next class.
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The dread of doing that dive was on my mind the rest of the day. I could not get over how scared I was.
A year and a half before this, I had taken a two-week class on how to practice Christian Science. Now, more than ever, I was committed to putting my growing understanding of Christian Science into practice in everything I did, including diving. When my own prayers didn’t enable me to get past the fear I was feeling, it was natural for me to call my Christian Science teacher, who was also a Christian Science practitioner, for help through prayer.
Whenever I called him, he rarely gave me the response I expected. So what he shared always jolted me from whatever thoughts were going round and round in my head and helped me think about new ideas. I needed that.
During our conversation, I explained the situation and said that I was too afraid to do that particular dive the next day. He told me I would do it when I was ready. That’s all he said, though I knew he would be praying for me. I hung up and thought, “But I have to do it tomorrow!”
The dread of doing that dive was on my mind the rest of the day. I could not get over how scared I was.
My second thought was, What did he mean? I knew he wasn’t being flippant but was coming from the standpoint that God, divine Principle, governs every aspect of my life. Then the thought came that I would do the dive when I was ready to recognize that I express God, Spirit. Because I am Spirit’s creation, there’s never a moment when I don’t express the activity of Spirit. But I needed to see that Spirit, Principle, was what was impelling me and not my personal will. It wasn’t about talking myself into doing it, or even reasoning that I was athletic and therefore could do it. I just needed to have faith that Spirit was animating me in everything I did.
The next day in class, we had our test. Instead of being required to do the reverse dive, we were asked to do a front dive, a back dive, and a dive of our choice. What if I had spent those two days psyching myself up to do the reverse dive? What a waste it would’ve been! I had needed to learn a much deeper life lesson from this experience, and that’s what prayer had done for me.
This lesson has stayed with me over these many years, reminding me to keep my thoughts in line with God and to be ready to do what God is impelling me to do. My task or path in life might not be what I expect, but it will always be good and enriching and often better than I expected.
Facing every opportunity as a way to grow in my understanding of God’s government of my life has made a difference in how I approach everything.
I also started thinking much more about a statement Mary Baker Eddy makes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Divinity is always ready” (p. 458). And I’ve been comforted by the idea that because the absolute goodness of the Divine, God, is present now and expressed tangibly in our lives, I have the ability to do whatever I need to do.
I’m so grateful for class instruction and the lessons I continue to learn, even from things that would appear not to matter that much. Facing every opportunity as a way to grow in my understanding of God’s government of my life has made a difference in how I approach everything.
And if you’re wondering how my other dives went, I’ll tell you. When I resurfaced after the first dive, the instructor said something along the lines of, “What did you do to improve so quickly? That was by far your best dive!” He was amazed at the other two dives, too.
After my diving class, I reveled in the wonderful spiritual lesson I had learned.