When Riding a Bike...

Yesterday on my ride home from the bank I was flying down Beach Boulevard with the wind in my hair, not a care in the world! I was so caught up in my own free version of Thunder Mountain Railroad that I may have accidentally missed the sidewalk entirely and landed in a bush. Well, as I was enjoying my sudden jolt into Disney’s Jungle Cruise, a thought ran across my mind…if I had simply pumped the brakes a tad bit I would most likely have not landed in this ridiculous predicament. In order not to look like an entire fool, I began fussing with the gears and checking the chains pretending as though something had gone wrong…that something was my own ignorance. Regardless, I hoped on the bike and was off a grueling twenty minutes of California heat left on my ride, yet for some reason I was too busy to notice as my mind went racing.

Riding a bike is no simple task. I didn’t learn until I was around nine or ten years old. Yes, I understand that it is a little ridiculous, but some adults go their entire lives without knowing how to stray away from training wheels. I even remember a bike ride when I was younger where my sister threatened to tell on some neighborhood girls who kept pestering me about my training wheels dragging on the back. The saddest part of the whole ordeal was that I had a normal kid bike so we just attached some extra wheels but it looked ridiculously out of the norm. Not going to lie, if I saw my child self-peddling along on that thing nowadays I probably would have poked fun too!

Riding to and from school I’ve started to master the art of coasting. Once you get that bike to a certain point, you can basically coast for a good length of the road without much effort. The other day I started to realize how much I had forgotten the one rule of coasting…when going downhill you GAIN speed. Now, many of you may be rolling your eyes, but unfortunately the forgetting of this rather common sense concept was what landed me in the dumb bush in the first place. I forgot so quickly that coasting often is a way of you to check out from what you are doing. The same thing happens sometimes when I drive home from work. I always manage to get home safely, and I never fall asleep at the wheel, but sometimes I completely forgot how I got from point A to point B! Scary.

When we let ourselves go on autopilot we are at risk of missing out on what is happening in the moment. A good friend of mine told me last night the importance of experiencing what is happening now and appreciating it for what it is. It is such a simple concept, which is most likely why it is so easy to forget! The problem is that the more checked out we become, the faster life seems to flash by. Graduation is right around the corner and I don’t want to let this year become another of simply coasting through. I get too concerned with the future, and so focused on what is to come that I entirely forget about what is happening in the moment!

Not only do I forget, but sometimes I check out to protect myself. You see, I have one of the most blessed lives out there. I have an incredible family, wonderful friends, and each day I get to serve God, which is pretty legit. There are several times though in which I expect that the best moments in my life will be quickly followed by the worst. It is horrible thinking but I swear I have this idea somehow that when good things are happening something bad has to be around the corner. I have been reading James and it is all about allowing yourself to be challenged by trials. I think sometimes I assume that trials are necessary for me to grow and thus the times of good are going to be followed by something terrible so I can learn. It is awful but checking out or expecting the worst is just as bad as coasting through it!

God has been teaching me that it is in these times of blessing which thanksgiving is so much more vivid! That should never stop in the times of hardship, but it gives me time to reflect and appreciate the love that the Father pours out! Praise Him for these times for it is in them that I can truly grow in my ability to see and understand more of His love! Just a little reminder, especially on my rides that it isn’t about getting home the quickest route, but enjoying each moment along the way!

Love,

Kendra