At a family pool party, adults and kids alike playfully bounce around in the water, racing and chasing each other from one side to the other. Others fly down the slide, off the diving board, or stretch out in chairs arranged along the sidelines. It’s the height of summer, and for everyone in attendance, this party is a welcome distraction from regular life. Fun is the only expectation anyone has today.

On the sidelines, three girls are introduced by their parents and then walk circles around the pool chatting. Two of them are sisters who ask the third girl whether she can swim. “Oh yeah,” she says emphatically. “I can swim really well. I’m out here swimming all the time.”

At just that moment, as if on cue, her father walks by. In a moment of pure playfulness, he takes his hips and swings them in his daughters direction, bumping into her side. It’s a silly thing he does every now and again as a joke, usually without consequence. But this time, as his hip connects with hers, she is catapulted, fully-clothed, into the swimming pool to her right – in the deep end.

Shocked by the cold water and her rapid change in circumstances, the girl – the avid swimmer – flails about, choking down mouthfuls of chlorinated water while struggling to stay afloat. She isn’t consciously aware that everyone is looking at her, but nevertheless, on some level, she understands that she has become a spectacle.

Somehow, through squinted eyes, she finds an arm that’s extended in her direction, grabs it, and is pulled out. Once on solid ground, she bolts indoors, well away from the other party-goers, especially the two sisters to whom she had just told a boldface lie.

Locking herself in a bedroom, her immediate plan is to stay there for the rest of her life or at least until everyone else leaves. But soon after, a knock on the door announces her father’s arrival. He asks to come in and apologizes for embarrassing her.

He says he had acted completely without thinking. It never occurred to him that she might fall in. He tries to convince her to change her clothes and rejoin the party, which surprisingly, she does.

She doesn’t blame him for her embarrassment. She knows it’s her fault, or at least, she believes it is. Why?

Because she lied. She didn’t know God well, but after hearing adults say “God don’t like ugly” again and again, she had learned what ugly was and that it came with consequences.

Lying was ugly. Falling in the pool and the exposure and embarrassment that came with it had been a consequence. Extremely swift justice. And it would never be forgotten.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, that little girl was me. Only a few days ago, I was recounting this story to a friend. Afterward, we giggled til tears flowed down our cheeks. It wasn’t funny then, but it cracks me up now.

We were talking about the times when God had to get us straight about something. Talk about unlocking a core memory! This lesson sits just below the surface of my mind, flying straight to the top when the temptation to be dishonest comes creeping on the scene. The painful reminder of the consequences that came with that choice way back then stops me from getting out of pocket today. God nipped that in the bud … quickly. And I still don’t want no smoke.

It’s the same thing a good parent might do to keep their child on the right path. A cosmic spanking to remind you of what NOT to do. And it worked, at least, for me.

That doesn’t mean that it stopped me from ever being dishonest again. But it did make me quick to come clean and course correct, and later, as I matured, heed the warnings and reminders the Holy Spirit would send my way to avoid those traps altogether. 

It didn’t mean that trouble would never find me. But it might be true that if I hadn’t learned that lesson, the lies would’ve been what sent the trouble my way. I may never know, but I think it pays to be cautious about this kind of thing.

And to think, my earthly parents weren’t aware of any of it. God, my creator, handled it all just between us. It’s just one example of God raising me, right alongside my family, filling in gaps they didn’t even know existed. Spotting the dirty parts of my heart and rinsing it clean before anyone else noticed. Who does that?

God, Yahweh – a loving creator, Jesus – a selfless savior and a beautiful Holy Spirit, that’s who. 💜