Jose and I went on our first bike ride this for this summer. I have been wanting to go on this bike ride for a long time. Finally the day came and as I get on my cruiser and start riding I realize that this bike ride will be a little harder to do than I thought.
While Jose is riding his road bike with a breeze he’s telling me “Wow look at that house” or “shall we go straight or left?” And the whole time I’m thinking how can I look at that house when I’m struggling to just keep going. Or who cares where we go I just want it to be over!
Then I realized. This is exactly how we tend to be when we go through seasons where we are discouraged. We don’t look up from our hard circumstance, we focus on it and don’t enjoy our beautiful surroundings and the great things going on. We focus on how hard things are and complain how others don’t understand our situation. If I would have looked up in the midst of the hard pedaling, I would have found joy and pleasure in my surroundings. I could have focused on how awesome it was that my husband and I were out and on this bike ride that I had been wanting to go on for weeks. I could have helped chose the course we took if I would have been focused on the good things. Instead I didn’t care where we were going and focused on just wanting it to be over.
Isn’t that how we think sometimes in seasons where we are discouraged? Like “man I can’t wait until my kids grow up and I can be a better parent.” Or “I can’t wait until I’ve arrived to a place called financial freedom.” Or “I can’t wait until I’ve arrived to a place called married.” Instead of focusing on the destination we need to focus on the journey. Take the good with the bad and enjoy the journey. The process to the journey makes us stronger, better and it builds endurance.
At the end of my bike ride my quads were burning. Which means I had gotten a good workout. I was becoming strong, and was building endurance. Don’t be like me. Enjoy the ride. Break discouragement by focusing on the great views around you. The views of your healthy loving family. Your job. Your friends. The car you drive. Be thankful for the great views God has put in front of you. Some people may be looking at your life and want to ride your bike and see your view. Be thankful and enjoy your bike ride and if your bike needs air really go put air in it. After all, you want to keep riding it to see the views.
