Chapter 1- You Can't Ride a Bicycle on a Dirt Road

 

Chapter 1

You Can’t Ride a Bicycle on a Dirt Road

 

How many people ever get the opportunity to try to ride a bicycle on a dirt road? My guess is not many. Let me tell you, it’s more effort than result. The tires bog down in the loose sandy ruts and if you do get going a bit, you probably won’t stay upright for very long. The front wheel sinks into the soft sand in places and won’t turn. It becomes impossible to pedal and what happens is you get off the bike and push it more often than ride it. The bike was there to take away the burden of walking, and make the trip faster by covering more ground quicker. The result is that you ended up pushing the bike through the soft sand and walking anyway, doubling your workload.

How often do we try to do things that just don’t fit with who we are? Forcing situations that don’t feel normal usually have bad results. Was the bike the proper tool for this job? Was it the best choice? Apparently not, since all I did was to double my output and reduce my outcome. The same choices are available to us in everyday life. Sometimes what seems the easy path just isn't that at all. Look ahead at the road you must travel, and then choose how to make the journey. Not all things will be revealed in the beginning, but learn when to cut your losses and change your path. Learn when to put down the bicycle and walk. Above all else, find peace in your decisions as you learn from them. Move through your decision-making with confidence. If you don’t know which way to go, pick a direction and commit to it. Make adjustments as you go based upon what you learn along the way. Maybe this isn't the right direction for you, but how would you otherwise know if you didn't walk it.

Everyone makes mistakes. But have you noticed that some people make the same ones over and over again, continuing down the same path of destruction time and again. I've been told the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time. I tend to agree with that philosophy. Learn when to leave the bicycle behind.

Above all else, pray for wisdom. God is faithful, but his ways are not our ways. Learn to trust him as you pray. He will put people and circumstance in your path that will guide you. Work hard to be righteous and worthy. You will fail, but your faith in Christ will make you stand, God will see your heart and will reward you accordingly. At the same time, don’t try to be overly righteous, you will only destroy yourself. Ecclesiastes 7: 16, teaches us not to be legalistic in our walk with God. We don’t have to worship a certain way, we don’t have to sing certain hymns, and we don’t have to be confined to worshiping God on Sunday’s and the occasional Wednesday prayer meeting. God is right here and desires to walk with us daily, hourly, moment by moment. He wants a relationship, not a wish list from our prayers.

I have three beautiful daughters. They are each very intelligent, and each is working to find their own paths. Some are having it easier than others, but none the less, it's their path! My path was made difficult at times because of the relationships I chose to cultivate. Picking the right person to love and commit to can be the most difficult decision of one's life. It has been the absolute pinnacle of every bad decision I ever made. I'm grateful for my children and the love we share; however, the heartbreak, heartache, and near nervous breakdowns associated with wrong relationship choices gave me a life lesson burned in the center of my soul forever.




J.W. Boswell
Copyright 2015