Wonderful lessons

My son turned 7 a couple of weeks ago, and we got him a new bike for his birthday. The bike had training wheels, since my son had never learned to ride a bike. But I told him the training wheels weren't going to stay on for long. He assured me that training wheels were fine and there was no hurry to take them off.

I told him that training wheels wouldn't really train him to ride a bike, they just made riding the bike easier but he couldn't have as much fun. I told him that he could go much faster and have a lot more fun if he would learn to ride without them. I showed him the other kids whizzing around on their bikes and that they were all little kids like him. If they could do it, why couldn't he? So he agreed to let me take the training wheels off Saturday.

The next day, after church, we went to the park. There is a nice paved path to ride on, and lots of open grass. I figured I would start him in the grass, so he wouldn't be so nervous. I said the grass would probably hurt less if he fell, and I told him he would fall a few times. He was brave and got on the bike anyway. I held on to the seat and jogged behind him, and told him I was going to let go. He was ready, so I let go, and he fell over. I was sure that was going to be the end of it, but he got up and was ready to try again. So we started again, and he told me to let go, and he was riding the bike! Then he fell over.

We practiced a few more times in the grass, and he was doing great. I told him that he should go to the pavement because it would be easier and he could go faster. Soon, he was doing laps around and around the park. We worked a little bit more, and I showed him how to start without me holding him up. He fell down a few more times, but each time he got back up and tried again. He didn't ever cry or get discouraged, he just kept trying until he got it. I finally just sat down on a bench and watched him ride all over the park untill it began to get dark. He had a big smile on his face and he was whoooing and wheeeing at everyone he passed. I was waiting for him to run into the back of someone, but he never did. When we started to head for the car, I told him how happy I was that he learned to ride his bike, and he said 'yeah, you taught me perseverence.' I guess I did. I think I learned a lesson too.

Sometimes I think God wants to teach us something, but we are comfortable and don't really feel like learning. God has to take off our training wheels, even though we desperately want to keep them. But God knows that we will be better off without them. We just need to trust God, and expect to fall a few times.