You Are Better Than You Think

 This last weekend was one of those weekends we live for.  At 77 I taught my 7-year-old grandson to ride a bike.  He has been unwilling to try, convinced it was something he could not do, paralyzed with self-doubt.  But the time had come.  He needed to learn. We used his sister’s hand-me-down bike, pink with pink pedals. 

 I told him to stand on one foot, while I did the same.  His balance was much better than mine.  I explained that no-one can balance on a bike standing still.  We started at the top of a moderate hill so he could learn to balance without pedaling.  The pedals got in the way, so, I removed them.  I lowered the seat so he could place his feet on the ground while seated to steady himself and to stop. At first it was only a few feet, then a few more, by the end of the day he was able to balance the bike all the way to the bottom of the hill.  That was enough.

 The following day, I added the pedals.  I told him how my dad taught me to ride a bike when I was his age.  I loved it then and still do, even at 77.  We went to a school parking lot.  He learned to position the pedal at the top of a downward stroke to launch himself into motion.  He wobbled.  He didn’t go far.  I took his face in my hands, looked into his eyes and said, “You are better than you think you are.”   By the end of the day he was riding wherever he wanted to ride.  When he demonstrated his newfound skill to his parents they were thrilled.  He said, “Tomorrow, you can buy me my own bike!”  They did.

 That experience reminded me of a lesson we all must continually learn.  We all have moments when we struggle with self-doubt.  We feel like Charlie Brown in Peanuts, “One step on the stage of life and we feel that we are not right for the part.”  It is as if God is constantly whispering into our ear the words I said to my grandson, “You are better than you think you are.”

 Read God’s conversation with Moses on the back side of the desert in Exodus 3.  Moses continually argues that he is unable to do what God is asking him to do.  He is not articulate.  No one will believe him. The people will not follow. 

 Listen to Isaiah in the temple, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips,” (Isaiah 6).  Or Peter when He met Jesus, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  Jesus responded, “I will make you fishers of men.”

 Whatever your weakness, whatever your failing, whatever your fear.  You are better than you think you are.  God sees it in you!  He will forgive you, cleanse you and make you better than you believed you could be. (2 Corinthians 5:17).