Today’s bike ride reminded me of something I wrote a few years ago.
When I ride my bike, there is a two-mile stretch as I leave my neighborhood that is it relatively flat. By Northerner’s standards it would most definitely be considered flat. But in Texas, our guidelines for flatness are a little different. In Texas, anything with an elevation is a hill. On this two-mile stretch ~ with only a slight hill ~ the road is flanked by pastures most of the way. If there is any sort of a breeze, it seems tenfold on this stretch of road –with limited trees to act as a windbreak.
Today, it seemed like I was riding into the wind – until I started home. All of a sudden the wind hit me like a wall and I had to force each turn of the pedal. Why hadn’t it seemed this hard going the other way? I thought I was riding into the wind on my way out. How could I be riding into the wind both ways? Riding into the wind going out and coming in?
Another time the wind went from friend to foe was the summer between high school and college. My dad took my brother and I (along with one friend each) to the West Coast because I wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before moving to Texas. We had driven all night from Boise, Idaho to the Pacific Ocean and then started up the coast to Canada. Several hours into the drive up Highway 101, we all thought we needed a little break. I was anxious to take a jog along the ocean ~ because years of watching TV shows set on the Pacific coast made it look like a “bucket list” sort of activity. I planned to run for about thirty minutes so after running down the beach for about fifteen minutes,
I turned around to head back.
Whoosh! The wind hit me like a wall. I tried to run but felt like I was walking. I think I was walking! It took me well over thirty minutes to make it back. The going out was most assuredly easier than the coming in.
How many other things in our lives are harder to come back from then getting to? How many times do we do something wrong and have to work twice as hard to correct it?
It’s always easier putting on the weight than taking it off.
It’s easier to keep working out then having to build back up to it that place of endurance and strength.
What about the alcoholic who takes that one drink? It’s easier not to drink than to go down the path of destruction.
It’s easy to take the first drag of a cigarette but I don’t know anyone who says it’s easy to quit.
It only takes a minute to let our morals crumble but it sometimes takes a lifetime to recover.
It’s easier to not even let the words out of our mouths than to try to take them back.
You will be blessed when
you come in and blessed when you go out. Duet. 28:6
The Lord is talking about how we will be blessed if we obey Him. If we obey Him, He will bless our comings and our goings. Obeying the Lord and His ways should not be a burden. His ways bring life and abundance and blessings!
Take my bike ride for example. Even though it was tougher to pedal back down that road today, it was exhilarating. I had a strong worship song on and really had to rely on God for my strength. I was blessed with an easy ride on the way out and a challenging ride on the way back in. But both were good for me.
It would have been easier to have a wind free ride both ways. Just like it is easier not to pack on the weight, compromise our morals, or let those regrettable words escape our mouths.
But the hope and encouragement comes in knowing that the Lord wants to bless us!
Are you aware of God’s blessings in your life? Tell me how He has blessed you.