Lessons from the Trails

Yesterday I went mountain biking for probably only the third time ever at Deep Run. The last time I had been on a bike was in October. It was a little shaky getting back on, but it came back pretty easily. I’m still learning to go over branches and obstacles. I get nervous going over some of them because I’m afraid I’m going to get thrown over the handlebars. Yesterday, there were some creeks with mud in them that my friend challenged me to go through. I was scared. I didn’t want to do it because I was afraid I was going to fall face first into the mud pit. He talked me through though and just said to be confident and try it. I finally got up enough courage to ride through the creek and mud sprayed everywhere! When I got to the other side though I was squealing with joy because it was not as bad as I thought and it was actually kind of fun! I even said let’s go through it again! I also traversed a few other obstacles of logs that I wouldn’t have done back in October.

I think the reason why I was scared to go over the logs and through the mud was the loss of control and the fear of the unknown. I feel like I approach life in this manner as well. I get scared about the unknown or scared of situations where I may be asked to give up control, but I think if I take that leap of faith to just try it and get out of my comfort zone, I may very well end up on the other side squealing with joy because I didn’t miss out on an awesome opportunity the Lord had in store for me. I think I also wasn’t as scared this time mountain biking as I was last October because I feel the Lord is changing my spirit, allowing me to relax and give up that control. I’m so thankful for that, but He still has a long way to go in my transformation process. So here’s to traversing mud pits, laughing like a little kid, and continuing to release control to the Lord!

Aftermath of the mud. You should see my bike!