Stand Fast

This creative/writing blog of mine has been a biking blog lately.  I go through phases.  The weather has been so unusually mild this year.  I'm grateful.  I love biking. 

The pieces of my life weave together.  Before biking, I was reading the scriptures.  I've been trying to find precepts in the Book of Mormon because as it says in the introduction, Joseph Smith said, "A man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."  The precept I chose for yesterday was from Alma 46:23 and 27 which includes, "Yeah, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain....Yea, and even it shall be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith of Christ."

That brought to mind the image of someone standing in the middle of rapids and not falling over. Someone with their feet firmly anchored in river rocks. I liked the image. In life, we are often in danger of falling and being swept away, but our faith in Christ can fasten us and make us strong enough to withstand the current.  We can only be strong like that if we are keeping the commandments and persisting in faith in Christ.

So I went on a bike ride.  Even though the weather has been relatively mild, it is often windy and cold. After about five minutes outside and a blast of icy air, I wanted to turn around and head home. I also wanted to ride, but it was just too uncomfortable.  As I was about to ride up onto my driveway, I still didn't really want to give in to discomfort.  So I let a spark of curiosity keep me going. I thought I'd stay out long enough to see if other people in our neighborhood were hoping the brush removal service would come again. I wanted to see if other "lawn and leaf" bags were on other people's curbs.  After riding around for a while, I discovered, yes, there are. By then I was warmer and found the strength to keep going.

I rode out to the lake.  These are steelwalks, as opposed to boardwalks in the pictures at the top of this post.  They pull them out of the lake every year before the snow falls.  They must roll up the middles and store them somewhere else.

I enjoy watching geese.  I learned recently that it's not one goose leading all the rest.  Any one of a flock does something and the others follow.  I saw evidence of that.  One led them all on a walk along the lakeshore.  The rest followed.  One in the middle of the parade took off flying toward the lake.  The others followed, even the one that had been leading them on the walk along the shore.  In birdville, anyone can lead and everyone can follow.  Someone just has to be opinionated and the rest need to be willing to do something different. 

It was a relatively short bike ride, so I hopped on the treadmill when I got home.  I read recent conference talks on the treadmill.  I was reading the one by Elder Neil L. Andersen.  For some reason, I didn't think I'd get anything out of it, but I did.  I really liked this:  "To change is difficult.  It requires running into the wind, swimming upstream." 

Sometimes headwinds are difficult.  Running into the wind, biking into the wind, swimming against the waves: it's all difficult.  A lot of what I'm trying to do right now feels like swimming upstream.  Sometimes I feel like giving up.  I realize I just need a little desire, a little action, a little faith, a little reason to keep on going.  I know I can change, I know I can do hard things with the Lord's help.