The sun was going down, the wind
was coming up. Even so, I pedaled
on. It is mid October and earlier on this
day I had decided to end a busy week of classes by riding my bike on the Linear
trail in Manhattan, KS. As I rode on I
checked my phone for the time. It was
nearly 9:30 pm, and I had started riding at 9.
“Why is this ride taking me so long?” I asked myself. I felt as I was in fairly good shape and moving
along at a good pace, and there was no way that this 4 mile trail should take
more than half an hour to complete. Even
with my doubts, I continued on riding on top of the dike protecting Manhattan
from the Big Blue and Kansas Rivers.
Finally, I decided I had had
enough. I stopped at the next sign with
a map of Linear Trail. As I stood there
frustrated, I looked at the map and noticed something. Linear Trail was in fact not 4 miles, but
rather 10. Somehow I had gotten the
incorrect distance online before I started.
Mad at myself, I jumped back on my bike and sped off. After a short while I noticed that my seat
had sunk down, so I slammed on my brakes, jumped off my bike, and readjusted
it. At this time I choose to take a deep
breath and look around me. In all of my
previous frustration, I had managed to not take in the sights around me. As I took in a deep breath I noticed how
beautiful the stars were, and how the wind gently rippled through the grass as
it blew over the meadows. It was definitely
a sight to see as the lights from Manhattan glowed in the distance. Before I could get back on my bike, an idea
came out of nowhere and smacked me right in the back of the head.
“Just because you don’t know the turns in the path doesn’t
mean you won’t get to your destination.”
Bam, talk about a revelation. At first, I rejected this idea, as I am a
very detailed orientated person. If I
want to do something, I will stress over every single detail so I can see how
it will pan out. But within seconds,
this philosophy started to grow on me.
We may know what we want our end destination to be, but there can be a
lot hidden in the valley between mountains A and B. Most of the time we don’t
even have control over what that is. Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t put
work or effort into preparation, or no thought into our actions, but rather we
need to put our strength and trust in others as well as ourselves, and know
that God has a plan for us whatever that may be. Life can work in mysterious
ways, ones that we may push away from us at first, but once we reach our
destination we couldn’t think of doing it any other way.
I hopped back on my bike and
continued on, pedaling a little slower this time. I gazed about me and took in every sight I
could see. I trusted this mighty trail,
as I knew that many have ridden it before me and finished successfully. I heard the wind rustle the few leaves still
on the trees, felt the rock crush underneath my tires, and smelled the fog
coming off the river.
It wasn’t long before I pulled back
into the driveway and locked my bike up for the night. As I got off I couldn’t help but smile in
thought of the previous situation.
As the end of this semester comes
closer, we may find ourselves wondering what our future has in store for
us. As high school seniors, we may still
be deciding on what path we are to take after graduation, college students may
be questioning their current major or class schedule, and each and everyone of
us always has something in our future that we may not know how to reach. Don’t allow your frustration with not being
in total control prevent you from enjoying this ride. You are in good hands, have faith in yourself,
and keep pedaling onward towards that horizon.
