Wind in Your Face

There was a period of time, a few years ago, when I had gotten out of a long habit of daily running due to some knee problems.

I hadn't yet gotten into my present habit of taking long daily walks. As a result, I was getting progressively out of shape--and heavier. My doctor suggested that I try riding a bicycle for exercise.

So, after an approximately fifty-year hiatus from bike riding, I started riding a bicycle ten miles a day on the bike path alongside the lovely blue Pacific Ocean between Marina del Rey and Santa Monica. I was fearful and wobbly at first, but the more I rode, the less my behind hurt, and the more I grew in balance and confidence.

One day, as I headed north toward my turnaround point at Santa Monica, I found myself going along faster and more effortlessly than ever before. What fun it was! I hardly had to push the pedals. Boy, this is great! I never realized that I would get in such good condition so fast. The muscles in my legs must be developing really well, I thought. I sat straight up on my bike and rode along like a conquering hero. King for a day! Then... Realty struck!

It happened when I turned around to come back. Wham! I was hit in the face with a very brisk wind. To make any forward progress at all, I had to almost stand up on the pedals. Now I knew why I had found it so easy going the other way. The strong wind had been at my back, pushing me along. But now I had a decidedly contrary wind. It was hard going. As I struggled along, making precious little progress, I was tempted to get off and walk the bike back home.

Then a though struck me. Hey, you are out here for exercise. Now you are really developing the muscles of your heart, lungs, and legs. It is the wind in your face that brings the most development, not the wind at your back. So I struggled on and made it back home, not feeling nearly as heroic as I had while going downwind earlier.

How true to life. Sooner or later we all learn that the wind is not always at our backs. Many times we face contrary winds that try our souls. We feel like quitting. The winds are just too contrary and too strong. But, thank God, out of the hard and gusty winds of disappointment, suffering, sadness, rejections, adversity, and pain, comes the development of our spiritual muscles.

It's fun to have the wind at our backs. But growth comes from having the wind in our face."

Source: Donald Russell Robertson "Dear You" (Word Publishing 1989)