If you keep the eyes of your heart and the ears of your spirit aware and alert at all times you will be amazed how much the Lord will teach you about Himself and His ways through the ordinary flow of everyday life. You’ll also find then how the opportunities to pass these truths on to your kids will seemlessly weave
themselves into the fabric of countless, commonplace activities. In the spring Holden learned to ride his “two wheel” bike. While he learned in about 48 hours and is quite impressive, he is still learning the art of confident riding.
One day Holden, Mikaela and I went out for a ride to the school playground. Holden was having some major issues with trust. He started out great. On the straightaways he was a real pro, but when he would look ahead and see a point at which a directional choice would be required he would lose it and begin frantically yelling, “Which way do I go? What do I do? Do I cross the road now?” When I was in front of him or he was sure of the way all was calm, but let me get behind him and he would freak out! Though I was right behind him, because he couldn’t see me he thought maybe I wasn’t there, wasn’t paying attention, wasn’t going to help him or keep him safe. What he needed to be doing was just to listen for my voice and trust that I was always within safe and quick range.
Any of this sound familiar? Not only did I watch as the Lord unfolded these truths in my mind, I took this opportunity to use this object lesson to talk to my kids about how learning to ride a bike is like learning to walk with the Lord.
Trust and follow. Stop talking. Stop trying to figure it out. Stop asking so many questions. Simply trust and follow.
When we run into tough stuff (like Holden veering off the sidewalk and into the grass), if we stop and let fear paralyze us we will get stuck there. We will fall, and we will get hurt. However, if we decide to push through (pedal harder), perhaps reposition ourselves (stand up if we need to), and follow on when we get in those tough spots we will come out on the other side, and we will be stronger having learned valuable lessons to apply the next time we’re in a tough spot or perhaps to share with others and teach them as they learn to navigate their own tough spots.
We will all have times in our lives when uncertainty threatens to shake our faith, but praise the Lord, unlike me He is slow to anger and not given to bouts of impatience, irritability and mood swings!
Trust that He is always there, and He knows every turn along life’s path. He will direct you, and He is always watching. Just trust and follow!
