Life is like the morning bike ride that I took today. You start from somewhere with what you have, muscles, will and the bicycle. These are your talents and raw materials. You hit the road headed to a destination. This is your vision. You pedal with gusto at the beginning. Your hope levels are very high and you have faith in your ability to reach the destination.
You start on a smooth road and then you hit the pot-holed roads that punish your buttocks. You appreciate why jobs have to be done well. Life challenges are like the potholes you have hit. You also pass over the sides of the potholes as if they were smooth roads as the cars suffer hitting the potholes. You understand that your path is different from the fellow in the car. How you manoeuvre the challenges in life is similar to how you manoeuvre round the potholes on the road.
You appreciated the few bicycle lanes on well-designed roads like the one I rode on. You realize government should work to repair roads and also provide roads that promote healthy living. Cycling should be encouraged and made safe via good road design. Cycling lanes are preventive public health as they reduce the possibility of cars knocking cyclists down and condemning the to the bodaboda (motorcycle) wards of public hospitals. Having cycling lanes on the roads is the equivalent of good planning necessary to manoeuvre life.
You ride and ride.
On the flat road you pedal and glide. Should you stop pedalling the bicycle will come to a halt. In life therefore you must continue working and studying otherwise you will come to a halt physically and mentally.
On the downhill you free-wheel and enjoy the breeze. In life you must learn to enjoy good times.
On the up-hill you increase effort and use your weight and assistance of gravity to your advantage to push the pedal down. You understand that in life you occasionally need assistance the way gravity helps you on the up-hill.
You sweat. The secret to success is sweating. Many thoughts pass through your mind. Some are nice while others worry you. You think about life. In life you need to take some time off to meditate. You pass by a large beautiful mansion and say to yourself that you will get there. But is that what you want? In life you must have big dreams but these dreams must be your own. You can admire others but create your own path and reality. A vehicle splashes water on you and your bicycle. You wonder whether it was intentional or whether the driver did not see the puddle and you. Of course that would be difficult to ascertain. In life therefore when something bad happens to you must not automatically assume the person causing you grief necessarily had bad intentions. Maybe they do not know. So don’t get unnecessarily annoyed. Keep riding.
As you approach your destination the fatigue you had suddenly disappears and you cycle to your destination with energy you did not know you had. In life you need to keep focused and you will achieve your goals. And when arrive at your destination you realize that during your bicycle ride there were so many things that you were not in control of. But these did not stop you from reaching your destination. In life therefore do not concentrate on the things that you have no control of because these will only waste your time and energy and divert you from your goal. You realize that your survival has a lot of chance elements in it. And you praise the Lord on reaching your destination and ask for favorable chances and protection.
In life therefore it is essential that you enjoy the ride to your destination! Buy a bicycle.