Obstacles and Preparation

When riding along you have to wary of obstacles that can ruin your ride. But, if you spot the obstacle ahead of time you can steer around it. There is, however, one thing to remember about being on a bike; your front wheel may steer around it but you still have to worry about the wheel you cannot see, the rear one. I know that there have been times where I spotted a large rock, pothole, debris, etc., and swerved my front wheel in time to miss the obstacle only to forget that I needed to swerve larger to avoid my rear wheel from hitting the object of misfortune causing me experience … misfortune. Sometimes the misfortune would appear as a punctured tube, and anyone who has ever changed the tube out of a rear wheel while out for a ride knows what pain that is. Still, experienced cyclists know the value of carrying a patch kit with you, and a pump. Such preparations are nearly invaluable to cyclists and prevent minor accidents from becoming major catastrophes. Think about it. Have been on a bike ride where you ran over something, or hit a rock or something like that, and punctured the tube? Without a way to repair the problem yourself you are forced to either call someone to come pick you up–which can be rather embarrassing–or drag the bike all the way home–which is embarrassing and exhausting.

            The lesson I learned–after swerving to miss a nasty rock with my front wheel only to run over it with my rear–is the need to be ready for obstacles in our life. Satan comes after us with rocks and potholes and whatever else he can to ruin our lives. Sometimes we see the obstacles he places in our way, and successfully surpass, at least the first time. Now, philosophy and behavioral science will tell you once you’ve done something satisfactorily once, it’s likely to be easier the next time, but that is not always the case–as I’m sure anyone of us can attest to. No, even though we successfully overcame the obstacle the first time, that same obstacle can still present a danger to us if we drop our guard or puff ourselves up in pride believing ourselves immune to that tactic. And, for whatever reason, we run right into that obstacle that was defeated before causing us spiritual, emotional, possibly even physical pain. Still, if we are prepared, the sudden halting of our celestial progress will be brief. So, what is our spiritual patch kit? Reading the scriptures, meditating on those words and their meaning for our lives, is one very important tool much like a tire lever. Being familiar with the words of God given to His children through prophets will help us remember why we failed and identify where we are weak. Combine regular scripture feasting with daily communion with Heavenly Father we are able to patch our lives back up. Prayer is not only important to help prevent us from falling into hazardous situations, but remembering to pray for forgiveness–sincerely–and continuing to pray, for help to conquer new and old obstacles, and gratitude for the situation being within our limits (no matter how hard it may seem, you are able to handle it). Both prayer and scripture study, the patch and tire lever, are important to heal our lives and get us back on track to live with God in His kingdom.

However, if we are unprepared, ignorant about how to be prepared, or believing that we would never allow ourselves to be in such a situation, what could have been a minor interruption turns into a big deal. Best case scenario, we are unprepared to deal with the situation but we do know what will be required to fix the problem. Unpreparedness can result from skipping our prayers or not taking the time to truly ingest the scriptures. In such cases, we suffer internally, feeling guilty for committing such a stupid mistake and knowing what should have been done, The repentance process is much longer as we have to drag ourselves back to the true path from which we had let ourselves stray. Yet, if our problem is not knowing how to be prepared, we are in deeper trouble. Why? Because there is help almost everywhere. You just have to the courage to ask. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I cannot claim I did not know how to prepare for the obstacles of life. If I regularly attend church services, and actively participate in learning, then there is no excuse for me to be unprepared; except that I may be hypocritical, acting one way at Church and another while not at Church. The consequences of such behavior are more impactful than the simply unprepared. When stopped by an obstacle in our hypocritical lives we are brought real low. We have to really humble ourselves, asking for help, admitting our failure to be true–to God, to ourselves, and to others. The journey home and the reparations are more difficult and may require help by one having authority and responsibility to help the children of God. For those of us in the last category of unpreparedness, prideful of our ability to prevent such situations, that it we would never fall to such temptation, have the hardest struggle of all. The impediment strikes us hardest. We find the obstacle surprising and are even more surprised when we fall on account of that obstacle. Forcibly humbled, we may have to rely on outside help just to get back to start let alone to repair the damage and get back on the trail. Nevertheless, it is always possible to repent and get back on the road to eternal happiness.

With life, like a bike ride, obstacles are sometimes unavoidable. Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes we can successfully navigate the pitfalls of life, the rocks the adversary throws in our path, if we are vigilant. But we cannot see or avoid all the trials in life, for the trials do make us stronger. With the proper preparations any obstacle can be just a minor annoyance. Preparations can even help us in the event of huge impediments to our lives. I know the importance of regularly praying, talking with Father in Heaven, even when I have hit a spiritual pothole forcing me to stop. I know how important it is to daily feast upon the words of Christ and how I feel when I “forget” or postpone such spiritual nourishment. When I neglect either of these vital yet simple measures I feel incomplete, like something is missing even when my days are full. Just like I try to never bike without a patch kit, I try to never let a day go by without praying or studying the scriptures. But, like a bike ride, sometimes you hit an obstacle, and sometimes you don’t.  DON’T. But if you do, be prepared.