Five-Minute Friday: Dive

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Dive

Ok, I just gotta laugh here.

Like, really.

Because I know a lot of you think of me as somewhat athletic…no sarcasm here…I’m a runner, and I can hold my own in a volleyball match or a basketball game.

But you should have seen me try to learn how to dive.

Like, physically dive. Into-a-pool dive.

It was a riot. 😀

I was your typical eight-or-nineish-year-old girl who hung out with her best friends at the pool every day during the summer. (I heart small towns for that very reason.)

Around that age, diving became the cool thing…and what’s not to love? Springing off the diving board, sailing through the air, and plunging headfirst into the cool water?

I so wanted that to be me.

And. It. SOOOOOOO. Wasn’t.

Oh, I was a klutz. For most of that summer, I just couldn’t figure it out.

I’d bend over with my arms outstretched over my head and jump.

Every time, without fail, I’d splish splash into a belly-flop worth of America’s Funniest Home Videos.

I would laugh at myself because that’s just me, but secretly, I wanted to execute the perfect dive so badly.

What a metaphor for life, really.

There are so many dreams and desires we hold dear and wish deeply that they will come true.

We try and try and put our best possible effort forward, and they still don’t end up looking like we wish they would.

Often, though they will eventually happen, there are challenges and flubs along the journey that complicate it. Or, maybe, build character.

And so when I dove headfirst into writing this book, I think somewhere inside I knew it would be much like I described learning how to actually dive…I’m sure there will be moments, but it will happen…when the time is right and when God says, Now. 

Until then, I just keep trying. Just keep doing what I’m doing and trusting Him.

Just keep writing those paragraphs and telling those stories.

And since I know you’re wondering, I can now execute a flawless dive. Maybe I should try for the Olympics next?