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Coasting
tom walsh |
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Sometimes life does get difficult. There are times it seems
when I'm trudging uphill with no end to the climb in sight--I look
ahead and all I see is more hill, more climbing, more
struggle. These are the times when it's easy to get
discouraged, to feel that there's no real purpose in going on
because there's not going to be any relief from the difficult
times.
But I took a bike ride yesterday that illustrates to me the
importance not just of going on, continuing to trudge, but also
the importance of pushing ourselves that little extra while going
up that hill. Heading north from our house, there's a
beautiful little road that's paved for fifteen miles, then turns
to dirt. The problem is that it's a road that leads into the
mountains, so it's almost all uphill from where we live. I
had gone a few miles out on it before, but yesterday I wanted to
go to the spot where it turns to dirt.
If you've ever ridden a bike uphill, you know the struggle
involved, especially when the road gets steep. The beauty of
riding uphill, though, is that you know that eventually what goes
up must come down--you're going to have to descend if you spend a
lot of time ascending. So as I pushed myself up some of the
hills that were extremely difficult yesterday, I kept reminding
myself that this very same hill that's causing me great grief at
the moment will be a hill that will bring me great satisfaction
later when I'm heading in the other direction.
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And that type of reminder is very important to me. When I
was down in the very low gears, riding at just four or five miles
an hour uphill, I knew that when I was heading in the other
direction I'd be able to coast with no effort at all except to
steer the bike.
Whenever life throws me some difficult times these days, I remind
myself of all the runs that I've done and bike rides that I've
taken that have involved hills and mountains. I know that
it's important to keep in mind the fact that this too shall pass,
these difficult times are like the uphill trudging that I do, that
eventually becomes downhill coasting as long as I persevere and
keep on going up that hill.
One of the most important parts of this principle, though, is
recognizing when I'm just not ready for a particular hill, or when
this hill just isn't worth the effort. I couldn't have done
the thirty miles yesterday if I hadn't trained for it--I couldn't
head out on my bike one day without any practice at all and expect
to do the climbing I did yesterday. Likewise, there are
other hills around that simply wouldn't be worth the effort
because they're too dangerous or because the road isn't paved or
because my bike couldn't handle it. We do have to have the
discernment necessary to choose our battles--the hills that we
challenge--wisely.
The reward yesterday came almost immediately--it took me 90
minutes to do the 15 miles north, but once I turned around it took
me only 50 minutes to do the same distance back home. There
were points at which I hit 30 and 40 mph, coasting, without having
to pedal. In life, too, I know that these downhills come
along, times when things go well, when we accomplish what we want
seemingly without having to put forth any real effort. We
have to remember that when we're struggling, we're struggling to
get to the top of a hill, when all that we've learned from the
struggle will come together to help us, to give us the chance to
coast downhill for a while until our next great struggle comes up.
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Life is difficult. This is a great
truth,
one of the greatest truths.
It is
a great truth
because once we truly
see this truth,
we transcend it. Once
we truly know that life is difficult--once
we
truly
understand and accept it--then life is
no longer
difficult.
Because once
it is accepted, the fact that
life is
difficult no longer matters.
M. Scott Peck |
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