Biking the Trail

Last week I was on vacation in Traverse City, Michigan. Ok, it’s official! I’m in love with Michigan! It is absolutely gorgeous up there and so picturesque. Pure Michigan is definitely the best way to describe that state. We spent several days in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. There are so many little hidden towns and spots in the park where one could spend days. 

Our first full day there, my mom and I decided to bike the Heritage Trail in the park which is the main bike path spanning a total of 27 miles. The path is described as “handicap accessible and designed for walkers, runners, skiers, people on bicycles, in wheelchairs, and babies in strollers,” so naturally we assumed this trail would be a nice jaunt from one side of the park to the other with just some beautiful scenery. 

But that description couldn’t have been further from the truth. There was hardly a time on the trail when the ground was completely flat. The hills, big and small, were so unexpected and when we got about 20 minutes into the ride, we had to stop and rethink our decision. We kept going but at several points throughout, we would have to dismount from our bike and walk it up the hill because it was simply too steep. For a trail described as being wheelchair and stroller accessible, we were not expecting all the hills to say the least. In fact, my mom told me after that there were 7 times when she thought she was going to die :-).

As I look back, this was such a great representation of life. We sail along at different points, and at other points, we stumble upon an unexpected hill where we struggle to climb and may even have to get off our bike to walk to the top. We may assume that each of the hills we encounter are going to break us, but even on the biggest hill, there is always a slope down back to flat ground where we can speed down with the wind in our hair. Sure enough, we felt great and accomplished at the end of the day knowing that we had persevered and done the best we could. We couldn’t even really remember the pain we had in the moment on the hill toward the end of the week even though at the time it had felt immense.

Lately, I have been feeling as if I am standing in the middle of a hill trying to decide whether or not to use all the strength in my thigh muscles to keep pushing me all the way up, or to simply get off my bike and take my time walking to the top. These past few months in all of our lives have been more than unexpected, and yet it’s just one tiny little hill in the grand scheme of the trail knowing that relief is on the other side. 

Up until a few days ago, I wanted to end this blog post here because I hadn’t really felt any different other than the sad reality of our “normal” lives now. I had just been wanting to sit in the ugliness of our world and my day-to-day life as it’s turning out to be. However, getting all of my thoughts out here have made me realize that even though it’s ok to feel this way, I think it’s more important to look past it toward God. 

I am always humbled when I think about how truly small humans are compared to everything else in the universe. If you think about it, we live in cities where the buildings in which we live  and work are built to the highest capacity as if they were scraping the sky. These cities, while seemingly huge to us, are just tiny dots in comparison to the world. When in outer space, the earth on which we live is a tiny dot compared to all the other planets in our galaxy, and the Milky Way is simply one of many other galaxies out there. To top it all off, God has all of that in just the palm of his hand. While we may think that we are giants, knowing so much, with advanced technologies, and trying to better the environments we live in, we need to accept the fact that we are genuinely at the mercy of God’s will. 

Yes, our lives will be hard, and I have been feeling the weight of this extra lately not remembering the relief waiting for me on the other side of the hill. The little things haven’t been as joyful recently, and yet when we reach the end of the biking trail, we will be so overcome with relief and pride that we won’t even remember that one hill in the middle of the journey that we had to stop and walk up. At the time we were dying and couldn’t do it, but perseverance brought us to the finish line and closer to Christ. 

Lord, help me look past this disappointing and unexpected time and focus more on the future and how you are using my life. I give you my life so please take it and use it as you will, and help me see how this tiny hill is nothing in comparison to the final destination. Help me focus  more and more on you each day so at the end of the trail you can say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

With Love,
Hannah