Getting Back on the Bike
It is one of the parts of the school day I enjoy the most - the early morning hour before any teachers or students arrive. I have the opportunity to sit quietly at my desk and work without any distractions besides the ones my mind invents. This morning I suddenly remembered that I have been remiss in my birthday card duties, so that will need to be remedied today. It is in the quiet times that little things like this percolate up from the dim recesses of my brain and find the light.
I had another birthday a week ago. I went to the doctor to continue my physical (it appears to me that it will have three parts altogether since the doctor is constrained to seeing me in fifteen to twenty minute increments of time), and discovered that everything was good except my cholesterol levels which I have to try and make better. I had already planned to purchase a bicycle to ride for exercise, so that will be part of my plan to elevate the good cholesterol (along with taking those fish oil capsules with the Omega 3's in them).
I have fond memories of riding a bicycle as a younger person. I remember getting a bicycle for Christmas and taking it out into the driveway for my first ride and taking a spill into a snowbank before ever reaching the street. I got up and wheeled it back into the garage and went into the house. I decided the bicycle was not for me or I was not for it, because I had not begun to ride the first time I made the attempt. Fortunately, my father got me back on the bike and coached me, and soon I was riding the short stretch of road between my house and my next door neighbor who had also gotten a bike for Christmas.
Some of us have a temperament like that: If we do not experience immediate success at something, we determine that the activity is not worth our time or effort; we won't do it unless we are good at it right away. I think that is pride. We are ashamed to fail. It may also be insecurity. We may think that people will think less of us if we appear to be less than perfect, and we cannot stand to think of ourselves as less than perfect, so we do not put ourselves in positions where our inadequacies will be obvious to all.
It is good for me to recognize that God has declared us all sinners, that we all have come short of the glory of God, that I am no less and no greater than any other human being on the planet. It is also good for me to know that God, in his great love, died for me me while I was yet a sinner, that my sin, my weakness, my imperfection did not stop him from loving me so much that he would willingly lay down his life for me to make a gift of his perfect righteousness if I would only receive it. We all fell off the bicycle before we ever got near the street. It took a loving Father to set us up aright and get us on the right road, to enable us to enjoy the gift he gave us.
If you are a father reading this, do not underestimate the amazing role you have in your child's life. You can reveal the loving heart of God the Father. Your life can point the way to an intimate, trusting relationship with God for your child.
I had another birthday a week ago. I went to the doctor to continue my physical (it appears to me that it will have three parts altogether since the doctor is constrained to seeing me in fifteen to twenty minute increments of time), and discovered that everything was good except my cholesterol levels which I have to try and make better. I had already planned to purchase a bicycle to ride for exercise, so that will be part of my plan to elevate the good cholesterol (along with taking those fish oil capsules with the Omega 3's in them).
I have fond memories of riding a bicycle as a younger person. I remember getting a bicycle for Christmas and taking it out into the driveway for my first ride and taking a spill into a snowbank before ever reaching the street. I got up and wheeled it back into the garage and went into the house. I decided the bicycle was not for me or I was not for it, because I had not begun to ride the first time I made the attempt. Fortunately, my father got me back on the bike and coached me, and soon I was riding the short stretch of road between my house and my next door neighbor who had also gotten a bike for Christmas.
Some of us have a temperament like that: If we do not experience immediate success at something, we determine that the activity is not worth our time or effort; we won't do it unless we are good at it right away. I think that is pride. We are ashamed to fail. It may also be insecurity. We may think that people will think less of us if we appear to be less than perfect, and we cannot stand to think of ourselves as less than perfect, so we do not put ourselves in positions where our inadequacies will be obvious to all.
It is good for me to recognize that God has declared us all sinners, that we all have come short of the glory of God, that I am no less and no greater than any other human being on the planet. It is also good for me to know that God, in his great love, died for me me while I was yet a sinner, that my sin, my weakness, my imperfection did not stop him from loving me so much that he would willingly lay down his life for me to make a gift of his perfect righteousness if I would only receive it. We all fell off the bicycle before we ever got near the street. It took a loving Father to set us up aright and get us on the right road, to enable us to enjoy the gift he gave us.
If you are a father reading this, do not underestimate the amazing role you have in your child's life. You can reveal the loving heart of God the Father. Your life can point the way to an intimate, trusting relationship with God for your child.
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