The Man in Yellow

When I ride my bicycle I use a little rear view mirror. It fits on my sunglasses so it is really pretty small. Mostly it lets me know if a car is going to pass or anything else that is scary. I was riding the other day and passed another cyclist in a bright yellow jersey. Passing in cycling is probably not that much different than passing in a car. You kind of want to be decisive. It can get ugly if you pass someone and then slow up and they pass you and then you feel like you need to pass them. Anyway, I passed this guy fairly decisively and checked to see where he was in my mirror. He was 100 yards back or so and fading so I thought all was well. After another couple of minutes I looked back again and the guy in yellow was closing the gap. I thought about whether it would be a good thing or a bad thing to have this guy catch me. I decided it would be a bad thing. So I stepped it up. This all sounds like it was ego driven and that I am going to give a little lesson on pride. So far, this is not a run away ego, it's just normal testosterone. Go ask your husband. Sure enough, the guy in the yellow jersey dropped back and finally out of sight. I kept pushing pretty hard and didn't think much more about the man in yellow. About 15 minutes later I glanced in my mirror and I could see the yellow jersey. It was pretty far back but he used to be completely out of sight. I thought to myself, "Inconceivable, the man in yellow is gaining on me again." This time I pushed myself right to the red line which at my age is where the little ambulance symbol comes up on my heart monitor. I got to my next turn around and started heading back ready to come face to face with the man in yellow. What I found was a bunch of yellow bushes about two miles down the path. The man in yellow had turned off long ago and the thing I thought was him had been some yellow bushes reflected in my tiny mirror. Here is my point. Half the time I am running from something that isn't even real. The idea that I have to succeed or have to be right or need my kids to get certain grades or a dozen other things that push us to our limits. What keeps you running so hard? The man in yellow may just be a bunch of yellow bushes. The God of heaven has already declared that He loves you more than you can imagine. Take a rest. Enjoy the ride. It is your only time down this path.