Life Lessons You Learned When You Were Six

When I learned how to ride a bike, i was given one piece of advice: "Zach, only look where you want to go. Don't focus on the stuff that will make you wreck. You'll only end up riding into it." About two minutes after my dad told me this, i promptly rode into a creek bed off the side of the road. You'll never guess what i was trying to NOT ride into. As i was mountain biking with my buddy today, that lesson came back to my mind with ringing clarity. The trail we rode was not particularly difficult, but there were definitely moments when if you lost your cool you'd go and fall of the side of a ledge or small mountain and be in some serious trouble. I know how to ride a bike and handle myself accordingly, but this trail required that i focus on what was important in order to ride successfully. If i spent too much time worrying about what was on the other side of the burm instead of focusing on coming out of it, i would just about wreck myself and go flipping over the turn into a tree. Lesson learned. Later in the day, we had to sheer adrenaline-rushing joy of riding a 3.5 mile downhill portion. When i say downhill, i do mean down a hill like a rocket with solid fuel resources. We were cooking. Never mind that we were on the side of a mountain and a wrong move to one side would send into a tree or into a ravine. Don't worry about that. Just focus on the foot wide trail in front of you and you'll be just fine. If you look where you want to go, you will surely go there. Life lesson application: LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AND NOT AT THE OTHER STUFF ALL AROUND YOU. We like to blame the Devil for distracting us from the purposes of God, but seriously people, we're the ones looking. The only way anything becomes a distraction is if YOU take YOUR focus off of the goal and start going another direction. If we keep our gaze set on the straight and the narrow, there is no difficulty remaining on it. You will follow your gaze. Some people say it's hard to stay concentrated on the path ahead, but they've obviously never smashed into a tree at 8 miles an hour or flipped heels over head over the handlebars into a pile of rocks. You learn quick that lack of focus merits painful consequences. Keep your eyes set on the path of righteousness, and all that garbage won't even be an issue. They certainly won't go away, but you're not concerned with those things. You have made yourself about the Father's business and you know that the only safety lay in obedience.