Pastoral Ponderings—Bumps

Pastoral Ponderings—Bumps

When I was a kid, I LOVED my bike!  I was one of the kids who was always riding around the neighborhood, or better yet, biking around on our trails or the track some friends and I made in a couple vacant lots behind the house.  The trails we always used were conveniently on the way to the friends I usually spent time with, and while I didn’t know it at the time, along a public easement or something with a drainage ditch, and in some places, strategically located dry ditches right next to each other, so that on the bike, it was one huge bump right next to the other.

On the track we made behind one of our friends’ houses, we put in both a berm at the big curve so we could take the turn faster, and several bumps of various sizes along the track that became our ramps and jumps.  We spent countless hours on those jumps, bumps and track, sometimes together, sometimes just on my own—how could a kid ask for a better life?  Funny thing is, what made it so good were the bumps and obstacles—I doubt it would even earn memory space in my brain if not for those trails and bumps and the many crashes they brought!

Why is it that the bumps and crashes that are the foundations for the adventures of our young lives, and the substance of our most treasured memories, seem to be what we try most to avoid as adults?  We go to great efforts as kids to either find or create those bumps and relive the crashes through our best stories, yet as adults, it’s very different.  Any realistic assessment of life, and wherever we find ourselves, recognizes that bumps and crashes are an inescapable and essential part of the fabric of our lives.  Can’t we as adults find ways to embrace them again?

Our Army kiddo Kaz just recently sent us pictures of a couple “Tough Mudder” type obstacle runs Kaz and the roomie had a ball with—adults looking for bumps and obstacles to have fun with!  But what about in our normal lives?  Life is truly bumpy—sometimes more than others, sometimes with obstacles that may seem insurmountable—but weren’t those the most exciting when we finally made it past when we were kids?

What might change in our lives if we embraced life’s bumps and obstacles, if we recognized life’s imperfections and looked at them as a part of the adventure of life, rather than dreading them fearing utter failure?  Might it bring more fun and excitement back into our too often dull adult lives?  Sure, sometimes we fall and get bumps and boo-boos—but that’s what bandages and kisses are for!  And don’t we learn more from mistakes and failures than success?

Here’s to the bumpy road!  Pastor Jim

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