During the past year you may feel as though you have been walking the valley of despair with loss of income, unpaid bills, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, perhaps you have had the news of a terrible life threatening illness, the loss of your home, or maybe you just have “caught” the blues from what is going on around you. This is far to often the norm today. Just as the seasons change around us, we may feel as though the dark grey days of winter closing in on us. I wonder if you ever entertained the thought that perhaps, just maybe this is actually a great time of protection, grace, and introspection for each of us with the promise of an emergence at a later date.
Let me take you back to a time when you got your training wheels off of your two wheeler bike. Close your eyes, can you see it? What color was it? Who was by your side? Put your hands on the handle bars. Are you right there, wobbly and weaving and your feet slipping in and out of the peddle guards. Your leg goes down to stop the fall. The person next to you says: “I’m holding on to balance you….just look straight ahead and peddle….!”
So, what did you do? Self defeat took over, you got off and sadly walked the back to the side of the house and leaned it up against the house and said: “….I can’t do it….it’s too hard….maybe when I get older…..” NO! You did not and would not do this in a million years. You put both of your feet in the peddle guards, you gripped the handle bars until you were white knuckled, then you had a steely eyed stare down the long sidewalk and as you began to peddle and got your balance…..you noticed you were flying down the sidewalk and no one was holding on! What a thrill! What Freedom! You yelled: “I’m riding!….I’m doing it…..yippee!!”
Now maybe your process was a little longer, maybe two or three days of trying, but you did it. Why were you in the valley of learning mode? What prepared you?
Each of us goes through the valleys in life in order to prepare us for the mountain tops of “Yippee”. These trials and waiting periods are not there to punish us but to rather strengthen us for the trials of climbing the mountain. Honor this time of trial and look at it and ask: “What do I need to learn?” Evaluate where you have been and the decision you have made. These are perfect opportunities to look in new directions or to work on those areas of your life that you have neglected.
Hey, while you are waiting, go out to the garage and get on one of the bikes that’s gathering dust in the back and pull it out and see if you still can fly…….and scream……”YIPEE!”
