As I grew and faced other challenges, along with making new friends in new schools as our family moved, each change felt like I needed to have “training wheels” on to keep me balanced, as I fought fear and trepidation with each new person I spoke with, material I had to learn, and expectations I had to meet.
As I grew into a teenager, more challenges forced me to “grow.” We all make choices, even if it doesn’t seem so. Not making a “choice” is still making one. I remember not making a choice about drugs when I was in high school. Yet, because I chose to not be around or “party” with those who did, I still made a choice. These choices were forming and molding me into the person I would become.
I did choose to marry and not enter college right out of high school. This became another time of “training.” We learn to live with another, making compromises and taking consideration of the other’s way of doing things, opinions and feelings to make things “work.”
Following on the heels of marriage, I became pregnant and found another time necessitating “training wheels.” I read once our first born child is our “experimental” one! It’s true. There are plenty of parent handbooks out there, but the best is “On The Job Training” because no book can adequately prepare you for parenthood!
There are mistakes, learning curves and general problems that come with having little people! This precept doesn’t change from child to child, but after the first, a mom isn’t as likely to worry so much about perfectly timed, boiled bottles; eat the food in the exact order suggested; spill a little milk on the floor or a hundred other things that just aren’t as relevant to us, as we add to our family! We tend to adapt a little easier and breathe, while allowing our little one to get dirty, enjoy creating mud pies or cluttering the floor with every single toy in the toy box!
Training wheels don’t stop here, however, either. As our little people become teenagers, we again struggle with balancing what they should do and how they should do it! Along with this there is still the need to harmonize with other areas in our life. This isn’t always easy. Finances can throw us a curve, health issues, career moves, relationships and so much more in our lives require evaluation and often times stabilizing. This is not unlike the training wheels that were first applied to our new bicycle back when we were small children.
One area that often is laid to the side, or up on a shelf during these ‘training wheel events’ in our lives out of sheer ‘time issues’ is our faith. Christmas has just passed, we’re in a brand new year giving us a brand new slate to start over! What better time to add time with God each day to adopt Christ’s ‘training wheels’ in our everyday living? God’s Word is filled with nuggets in every chapter, yet we miss them simply because we don’t open the Book!
My point to all this is, every season of our lives requires some amount of balance. It seems like it changes almost daily. I encourage you, during this holiday season to reflect on what is important in your life right now. Take stock and be ready to realign where needed, especially in your faith. When you’re aligned with Christ, everything else seems to work so much better—-or at the very least, prepares us to work better with everything that comes our way!
#TrainingWheels #LearningToRideABike #bicycle #training #trainingInfaith #alignedWithChrist #change #changes
Photo Credit: https://depositphotos.com/stock-photos/learn-bike.html
No comments:
Post a Comment