Freedom

I’ve noticed as I ride, that even when I am riding along at or slightly above the speed limit, most other vehicles just fly by. I’ll admit when I am in the car I do the same. It’s all about getting from point A to point B. When on my bike it’s all different. I mentioned in the first post how riding awakens all of the senses. It also allows me to enjoy life in a very relaxed and meaningful way for me. I find I am more in tune with my own thoughts and feelings and am more open to hearing from God.

I realized as all of the vehicles were passing me, that life is often the same as the speeding vehicles and riding. When I was growing up as a child, I lived moment by moment enjoying the simple pleasures of life. I enjoyed playing in puddles, streams, and rivers. I loved bullfrogs and turtles and my dad would often stop along side the road to get them and bring them home to me if he saw them. Running through the fields, swimming in a nearby pond, and climbing trees, were also favored activities. More often than not, when my mom was looking for me, I was in the top of a tree watching her as she looked for me. Life seemed simple and carefree. I feel this same feeling now as I ride. It’s like things have come full circle while I’m riding.

I believe I speak for many of us as we get older. We live life like we drive our cars, trying to just get from one place in our life to the next.  As a young child we can’t wait to become a teenager. As a teenager, we look forward to getting a job, getting out of school, and getting a place of our own. Then everything will be perfect and we’ll be happy. We soon find being on our own and being responsible for the bills that come along with it aren’t so great. Then many of us think, well once I get married and have kids, then everything will be perfect. I thoroughly enjoy and love my children and wouldn’t change having them for anything in the world, but realized very soon it came with challenges of its own. I know many parents who were almost sad at the milestones of having kids; going to school, getting their license, getting that first job, graduating and then moving out. I never was really saddened by those. I saw each milestone as proof that I had hopefully done my job well enough that they were able to reach these goals and be successful. Maybe some of the reason I don’t feel sad about them is because of the type of work I do. Working with individuals with autism is awesome and very rewarding, but it also has made me realize that many parents would love to have the opportunity to experience these milestones that many of us take for granted. I therefore, will not be sad for them when they occur. My “baby” now has a baby of his own and I love seeing what an amazing daddy he is, and am looking forward to my granddaughter making these milestones as well.

I think God must feel the same way about us. He wants us to succeed, like any loving father. He wants us to grow and learn from our mistakes. He wants us to come to reach milestones He has planned for us. When we rebel against Him, it is the same as when our children rebel against us as parents. I’m sure most families have at least 1 member that is more challenging and defiant than others. We know how it makes our hearts ache and how helpless we can feel that we cannot reach them. Imagine how it makes God feel when we do the same to Him. How His heart must ache. I am just so thankful that even when I make mistakes, He is there ready to welcome me back and to forgive me. It’s amazing to me how He can forgive us and move on, yet often it’s so hard to forgive ourselves. I personally find it much easier to forgive others, than to forgive myself.

When we can ask for forgiveness and receive it, there is freedom. When we forgive others, there is freedom in our hearts and minds and more room for love. If we can learn to forgive ourselves, there is then total freedom.

Yesterday my sweet hubby was actually able to ride with me before we had bad storms and it was awesome to ride together and to see him too enjoying the freedom to ride. If it wasn’t for him I never would have learned how to ride my own. I am most definitely a work in progress and am thankful to have the freedom to pray, the freedom to ride, and the freedom to write all these ramblings down. I don’t know if they help anyone else, but I know it helps me to be able to express what God is doing in my life when He is able to communicate with me while I ride. My stress level is so incredibly different now, it is something I cannot explain, but I am thankful beyond words for it.

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7