My son Jeremy is home and that means I have my bicycle riding buddy back. We are not exactly recreational riders. We don't stop to smell the roses or anything else for that matter. We rate a good ride not on the basis of the beauty of God's creation but on the volume of sweat that the ride produced. Anyway, the other day we were riding on the paved bike path. There were a couple of ladies riding toward us and Jeremy glided in behind me so we would be single file. The ladies were busy talking (imagine that?!) and did not move to single file. Three bikes passing on the bike path can be a little dicey especially when two of the riders don't recognize it is about to happen. So, Jeremy and I are hurtling toward these unsuspecting chatter boxes at about 22 mph. The gap closes surprisingly fast at that speed and I wait until I cannot wait anymore and yell for them to get over. It is hard to gauge a yell on a bike because you are moving one direction and your voice seems to be grabbed by the wind and heads in the opposite direction. I am sure a physics person can explain it. Anyway, the woman hears me yell and looks up in time to quit talking and get her bike over just in time for us to rush by like a train. Jeremy is a man of few words so he moves up next to me and we just look at each other and roll our eyes. We don't say anything but both of us are thinking, "Those crazy women. How hard is it to look ahead every once in a while to see if someone is coming?" We rode in silence for the next few miles but it was like a dark cloud covered us. We weren't saying stuff out loud but the thoughts themselves were dark and that was enough. We kept riding to our turn around place and then started heading back. As we headed back it occurred to me that we might pass the ladies again and sure enough I saw them around the next bend. They were side by side again happily chatting away. They would later be sorely disappointed at the amount of sweat their ride produced. We rode up and as we did I found myself feeling a little uneasy. We hadn't said much about the ladies but I had yelled and we had thought plenty of bad thoughts and even bad thoughts have an impact. We yelled up ahead that we were going to pass and as we did the one lady looked up and yelled, "Sorry about that guys." That is all she had time to say. We were long gone. But that is all it took. Jeremy pulled up next to me and we looked at each other and nodded and said, "Those are some nice ladies." A single drop of grace and she not only redeemed what we thought about her but she unknowingly released us from a cloud of dark thoughts. Today, I have already had opportunity to use a drop of grace here and there. It is some powerful stuff and if enough leaks out of you it will change everyone around you today.
Join in realizing the vision of Christ Community Chapel with Senior Pastor Joe Coffey
4 comments:
Good thing there were not any geese on that trail someone would have had goose for dinner.
Why the dark cloud? Because of the ladies not moving or because of your thoughts about the ladies not moving? My mind is not as sharp as it used to be.
Awesome post, Joe. I feel like you did on the bike trail far too often. In the spectrum of Mary to Martha, I'm much more Martha. I like to think I'm efficient and not the proverbial sloth but in the end, my relationships can sometimes be sacrificed. It seems that balance is needed in so many areas. I know some are great relationship folks but never appear to get anything done, they would be lazy in the world's eyes or perhaps French or Spanish siesta in their orientation. I guess there is always a little for all of us to fall short in the full spectrum of things. DM
The dark cloud is just the feeling of frustration justified or unjustified where I just kind of stew at people because of something they did.
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