If you have ever pedalled on a bike against the wind, you can quickly recall the exhaustion and frustration of the never-ending grind of working against the wind. With every kilometre of distance covered, the wind is in your ears and pushing against your chest. Your shirt flaps in the breeze, and you come to resent the wind and the energy it sucks from you with every pedal stroke. It is unrelenting and merciless. And you are keenly aware of it. You hear it, you feel it, you work against it.
But then you turn around and ride with the wind. You don’t hear it, and you don’t feel it. It is effortless and quiet. But quickly your awareness of the wind vanishes. Absent the fight with the wind in your face, you forget about the movement of the air. You notice the forest and fields through which you are riding. You see the pavement and the bike. You hear the birds and the sounds of nature. Your awareness of the world and its distractions increases with each passing moment. You no longer notice the tailwind, you take it for granted.
My awareness of God is like pedalling with the wind. Initially, I am grateful for the tailwind and the help, but within moments I have forgotten that it is there and ride along oblivious to the assistance that I am getting as I ride. The distractions of the road occupy my thoughts and perceptions. The world crowds in, it is nothing like riding into the wind.
I find it easy to focus on headwinds and effortless to forget the presence of tailwinds. In the same way, I can focus on the negatives and ignore the positives. I quickly take advantages for granted. I accept them as my due and give no thanks for them. The gratitude that I feel, in a flush, when I reverse directions and pedal with the wind, evaporates like water on hot pavement. It does not even leave a mark.
The habits of prayer and meditation, with my checklist questions in the morning and evenings, do not take a lot of time. And they include a suggestion from Michele S. to note ten things for which to be grateful. Like a cyclist who has a reminder taped to the handlebars, “You are riding with the wind, be grateful,” I can notice the tailwinds and be grateful.
Those reminders and that gratitude keep me going with the wind. They keep me aware of God and in alignment with Him.
This is one more reason to subscribe to daily prayer and meditation habits. It helps balance the headwind/tailwind asymmetry.
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