This week's Theme: Into the Deep
Day 1: Out of the Shallows
I brought my cupped hands together quickly as soon as my eye caught the gleam of silver. But the split-second promise was gone as the little fish darted easily through my cupped hands. The scene repeated many times through the hours as I played in the shallow water among the river stones, waiting for my aunt to finish the week’s laundry.
I was never far from her watchful eye and from the fascinating droup, droup, droup droup of dirty laundry ingeniously washed clean through the agitating motion of fist upon fist. My aunt’s overprotective fear equaled my mother’s, and I knew better than to cross the invisible boundaries they had drawn on land and in water.
So I spent my Saturdays “swimming in the shallows,” chasing the tiny sliver fish that inevitably slipped through my fingers, and occasionally glimpsing the larger mullets, suck-stones, and even eels that darted by.[i]
I was by no means bored—I loved the river and found much to occupy myself— balancing my body on moss-covered river stones, wading in tiny pools, and once in a while skipping across the stones to gather the almonds that had fallen from the trees on the other side of the river. But I never left the shallows, and I never learned to swim.
I wish I could tell you this was a life lesson that spurred me out of the shallows for the rest of my life. Not so! I see the ways the pattern has continued throughout my life— the reasons and excuses that have often kept me moored in shallow waters—the fears, the “false security,” the comfortable limits…
For Simon Peter, it was the resignation born of weariness and frustration— the impatient negativity of "bin dere done dat.' The gospel writer Luke recounts an incident at the beginning of the disciples' relationship with Jesus:
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around Him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats... He got into... the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (Luke 5:1-4).
The immediacy as well as the thrust of Peter’s protest can be easily understood: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything…” (Luke 5:6). He had been willing to comply with Jesus' request to "put out a little from shore" (Luke 5:3). But out into deep water... for a catch? That request fell like a thud on the tired, deflated mind of the dispirited, defeated disciple.
In the end, Peter made the tentative, halting decision to launch out into the deep (NKJV) on the basis of the respect, authority, and trust commanded by the "Rabbi" he still hardly knew: "But because You say so, I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5).
That first tentative step of faith would change Peter forever. In fact, then and there Jesus promised him that the astonishing results of his launch into the deep was only the beginning:
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him (Luke 5:6-11).
I am encouraged by the gospel story that all it takes is that first small step of faith. One small step out of the shallows, where silvery fish giggle as they slip through my fingers. Out of the familiarity of moss-covered stones, and the shade of water-logged almond trees.
One small step into nets full to breaking— not with river fish, but with wide-ocean catch— balahoo and robin, skipjack and bonita, tuna and barracuda [ii]. And the voice of the trustworthy Lord of the deep, saying, "Don't be afraid..." With My help you will navigate the deep. With My help, You will swim. Perhaps even with a shark or two.
[i] Fish found in the local rivers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
[ii] Fish found in the sea and ocean around the Caribbean
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