Perspective

Life seems to be all a matter of perspective. I’ve come to realize that more and more lately. Last night while riding I got to thinking about it quite a bit. The ride itself was wonderful. I felt totally relaxed and nothing seemed to hinder the ride. The air felt just a little cooler and less humid and I noticed some of the leaves have started to fall. Summer will soon be over and Fall will arrive. I personally look forward to the colorful leaves and cooler, drier weather.

I’m not quite ready to have to wear layers when I ride , but needing a long sleeve shirt would be great, as it would mean not being soaked in sweat every day 😀. Even the weather is about perspective, everyone sees each season differently.

If you’ve been following along you know a weekend get away we recently planned fell through. We rarely make plans any more in advance because it seems they most often get changed. Again this past week we made a plan, and I was sure nothing would stop this from happening as I knew God would approve! You probably know the saying, “Never say never.” Once again, at the very last minute, it became obvious the plans were not going to happen. We went through so many emotions; anger, frustration, disappointment, wondering how it could fall apart when it seemed like it was meant to be. I wanted to yell, scream, cry and have a pity party but none of that would have helped so instead I remained silent and just kept wondering why and “stewing” in my own mind. As I rode last night I realized that as frustrating as it was to us, there are definitely others who have experienced worse recently. That doesn’t mean the frustration and disappointment weren’t warranted or that I now understand, but as they say, “It could always be worse.”

I rode past a house where someone I know grew up and who was a daddy’s girl. She lost her dad within the last year or so not long after he was diagnosed with leukemia. Then just a few weeks ago, she and her husband lost their baby girl only a few weeks before she was due. I can’t even begin to imagine what she is going through, so yes it can always be worse.

Life has a way of knocking you down sometimes, but when it’s all said and done, how we deal with it has to do with our perspective at the time. I love how much clearer I can see things after the fact when I ride, but it sure would be nice to be able to see that clearly in the midst of things sometimes too.

I think back to when I was first learning to ride on my little Suzuki 250 and how unsure of myself I was at the time. Going around curves and making turns seemed almost scary at times. Now that I’ve moved up, twice, to a bigger and way more powerful bike, it seems foolish now. How I have reacted in certain life situations is much like that. At the time the situations may have seemed huge, but looking back with new perspective, not all were so huge.

Disappointments will happen, it’s all how we choose to deal with it that determines our mood and how we approach things going forward. No matter how often I try to remind myself of this, I still fail to react the way I should sometimes. I guess all any of us can do is try to be better today than we were yesterday, learn along the way, and know that He is always there for us.

“Peace, be still!” (Mark 4:39)