Things To Do In The Belly Of A Whale: Listen

My parents took me to swimming lessons when I was little.

The first few lessons were cake: putting sunscreen on my nose, bobbing, blowing bubbles, holding the edge of the pool and kicking…

But then it happened.

We moved to the deep end.

I was terrified and completely stressed out.

The teacher explained how to tread water. He demonstrated.

And then he told us to do it. In the deep end of the pool.

The other kids gave it a go. They looked like a bunch of drowning people, trying not to drown.

Seeing them splash around with their faces barely above the violent ocean waves (OK, the calm pool waters) freaked me out even more. I was about to have a panic attack.

Gripping the edge of the pool, I tried to be invisible so the swimming instructor wouldn’t call me out.

That’s exactly what he did though. He said, “Brian, let go and tread water”.

Usually, I was a quiet kid. I didn’t do much talking. Not a lot of words coming from me….

But I was in panic-mode and I needed to talk my way out of this.

I spit out words rapid-fire, like bullets flying from a machine gun:

“I can’t. I don’t know how to do it. Give me a minute. I have a cramp. My lungs are burning. I can’t breath. My legs hurt. I’m going to drown—don’t you care? I think my mom is calling me. Isn’t it time for the lesson to be over? I’ll do it in the shallow end. Let’s go over there now. Please! Is that a fire over there? How do you do it again? Can you show me one more time? Maybe I can try next week…”

I talked so fast, my teacher had no time to respond. He just stood there while I pleaded.

Then he bent down, grabbed my arms, picked me up out of the water, looked me in the eyes, and said…

“Shut up!”

I was in shock. Can a teacher say that to you?

Then he did the unthinkable…

He threw me in.

The deep end.

With no floaties.

Sinking into the water, I was still talking—but quickly realized that wouldn’t work.

So I shut my mouth and started to tread water.

I could hear the instructor telling me to relax and slow down.

I did what he said and it worked.

I didn’t drown.

And I learned how to tread water.

This story reminds me: It’s almost impossible to listen when you’re talking.

When we’re in a difficult or uncomfortable place, we tend to get worked up, stressed-out, and go into panic mode. The problem is, frenzied attempts to rescue ourselves never seem to work.

Sometimes, we just need to be reminded to stop talking and start listening.

“For he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!” —Psalm 95.7, 8 (NLT)