What Lies Beneath?
I have the absolute privilege of spending the majority of my week working in a school with SEND children and young people. I spend a large chunk of that time shrivelling into a prune in our hydrotherapy pool, delivering physiotherapy programs to our students. It’s amazing how the heat of the pool relaxes our students and the weightlessness of the water helps them stretch, float and be free from the constraints of their wheelchairs – it’s such an important part of their school day, and they absolutely love it!
As part of my role for hydrotherapy, I have to ensure the pool is safe. This involves testing the chlorine and PH levels, running the pumps cleaning system and maintaining the chlorine making machine…. Not quite as fun! Yet God really spoke to me as I completed one of the daily tests this week.
Our service room that houses all of the pumps, chemicals, machines I don’t know all the names of, are all a hub of activity behind the scenes whilst we enjoy our hydro sessions each day. One of the most important bits of kit is the screen that tells us what all the levels are… chlorine, PH value, temperature… More chemical symbols I don’t quite understand yet! They all have to remain at specific levels in order for the pool to be safe to use – if just one is even slightly out… No swim! So, these levels are checked daily – and the screen that tells us these levels is key. Yet this screen is just showing readings, how do we know if this is a true representation of what’s going on in the water in the pool? We also need to collect a number of samples to get a clear idea of what is going on under the surface of the water. We examine the samples, we dig deeper and go straight to the source to see what is going on within the waters. Only then can we identify a true reading and whether it is safe to open up for the day.
That got me to thinking – what is the reading of my soul? How do I measure what’s going on underneath the surface? We are all so good at showing at surface level, a healthy reading of how we’re doing – like the big screen in my pool… But I wonder what things look like as we go deep under the surface of our lives and take a few samples of our faith, our relationships, the hidden parts of ourselves we don’t often display…? What are the readings showing for you today?
I believe God wants us to dig deep and allow him to reveal to us what’s really going on under the surface – He longs to draw closer to you, speak to you, teach you through His word, mould you and draw out who He has called you to be. How? Allowing Him room in your life to get alongside you, giving Him permission to draw out what lies beneath the surface- so that you can gain a true reading of where you are at. David shows us in Psalm 139 a beautiful application of this:
Psalms 139:23-24 TPT
God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way – the path that brings me back to you.
Let’s create space each day to invite God to go beneath the surface and minister to us from a true reading of where we are at.
You’ve got this! He’s got you!
Ps Ana Williams
