Learning to ride two bikes
Each morning, I lie in bed and brace myself for the start of the day. It’s like being in college on the morning of a big presentation…am I ready? Which mistakes will I make today? Will I communicate well?
I was thinking last night how if I come out of this experience having learned, that will be enough. Having learned more French, more leadership and professional skills, how to cycle with two bikes at once (today’s lesson…see my blog for the story!), how to cook for a big group of people, how to pray like my life depends on it, how to really seek him first. My job has been – and continues to be – quite a learning curve! As everything is so new – new house, new routine, new food, new people, new(ish) language, AND new job – it’s hard to know where my overwhelmed feelings come from! Peter and I are continuing to learn how to work with each other, and as I pick up more and more responsibility with big donors, flight reservations to A Rocha meetings, travel and visa research, and preparations for the World Conservation Congress, I’m learning more and more.
Today, I rode back from the nearest village, Pont de Crau (Crow Bridge), with two bikes. It was a combination of stubbornness and intense sense of duty. After all, it was my fault for not checking that the key worked in the bike lock before locking it to the railing in front of the convenience store. Yesterday. And no one picked up at Les Tourades, the A Rocha France base, to give me a lift. So, with the correct key opening the way to get this troublesome bike home, I rode one bike and tremulously drove the other. The. Most. Intense. Biking. Ever. I’m not, by nature, the most focused person. But man, was I focused, riding around curves on a nearly-one-lane road, with French drivers giving me looks as they passed. I felt so funny and kept cracking myself up. “I’m riding two bikes through the French country-side!” Who woulda thunk it. It was hard. I wouldn’t do it again (my left arm agrees…). But I learned how to do it.
Miranda, Peter’s wife, mentors me on Thursdays. Last week, she told me: “You’re in the Alpsnow; you’re not the Alpilles any more (local foothills). Your body has to adjust to the thinner air. Just go to the next height beyond what you’re prepared for, and then God will show you how to build your strength.” It’s called learning to do things I never thought were possible. Like riding two bikes at once. As I get more comfortable here, the morning resistance is diminishing, and I’m coming to love those small successes… and I pray that I eagerly accept the trembling left arm, the difficulty breathing, the stretching and struggling that comes with learning.
