Keeping Your Balance...

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:25 ESV

I took up long distance bike riding last summer. Well, it's "long distance" for me. The furthest distance I traveled in one day was 32 kilometers. Don't laugh. That's not bad for a completely out-of-shape grandmother who hasn't been on a bicycle for 20 years. The biggest challenge, of course were the hills. The area where I live in Central Ontario has no shortage of them. There were some hills I tackled which were three or four kilometers of tough uphill slogging. But the ride down! Awesome. It doesn't matter how old you are or how out of shape, coasting downhill is just plain fun. The only effort required is staying upright and that part isn't hard at all since the centrifugal force exerted by the spinning wheels would make tipping over very difficult. What a sense of freedom as the wind whistled through my helmet and the pavement whipped by under my feet. Those three kilometre hills were brutal on the way up, but coming down was simply glorious.

It's interesting how my view of those hills changed as I gained experience. In the beginning I HATED the climb up. I absolutely dreaded each hill as it loomed ahead, no matter how small. But as I experienced more and more the joy of coasting down the other side, I began to see the uphill sides as my friends of sorts. On the way up I would encourage myself by thinking , "What goes up, must come down" and thought about how exhilarating the ride down would be. Then, as I coasted downhill, I would begin thinking the opposite, "What goes down, must come back up," and I was already setting myself psychologically to be ready for the next tough climb. It became a matter of balance. Focusing too much on the ride up would cause me to become discouraged and make it even harder than it was. Focusing too much on the ride down meant I would have awesome fun while I was in it, but I wouldn't be ready for next challenge which was always just ahead. I learned to focus not just on the good, or the bad, but I had to find a balance to be able to make it for the long haul.

Getting through life can be like that... You have to maintain a balance or your view can quickly get way out of whack. When things are going well, I tend to forget the disciplines that were needed to get me there. And when way gets tough, I'm apt to forget that what goes up, must also come down and that this too shall pass.

My prayer for today is for God to help me keep my view of the journey balanced. Not to take life too seriously in the tough times, yet not to take things too lightly when I'm in that downhill coast. To remember the disciplines needed to stay in the race, to keep my eyes on the goal and not be tossed around so much by the ups and downs of life.