Many or most of us are living under a “stay-at-home” order and are “social distancing” from extended family and friends during this horrible Covid-19 pandemic. It’s certainly a different way of life than what we consider normal. Sometimes the walls of our homes can seem to close in on us and we can get irritable, depressed and scared. Isn’t it a blessing though that it’s happening during spring when we can see the new growth of our lawns and the beauty of spring flowers? Where I live it has been sunny several days this week. I have been able to sit on my front porch and speak or wave to neighbors walking, riding bikes or jogging past. Yesterday while I was again on my front porch reading a book, I heard quite a commotion down the street. A little boy was learning to ride his bike without training wheels. There was much emotion and encouragement being shouted his way as his Mom walked alongside him with her hands on his back, encouraging him. His Dad was shouting that he was doing great and that he could do it! Many times, they went back and forth, shouting encouragement. Then, he tried it on his own. You should have heard the exclamations of joy! I wanted to clap and shout myself, but I was several houses down and I didn’t want to scare him off balance. It was pure joy to see and hear that family enjoying this newfound freedom in their young son. He had been “training” on his bike for some time and was now ready to go it alone, without the crutch of training wheels.

This morning as I woke up and was praying, God reminded me of yesterday’s experience. He showed me that this little boy’s training wheels are like when we are learning God’s Word. We need others to teach us. We need others to go alongside us as we learn about God and His plan for our lives. But, just as this little boy finally wanted to move forward to a 2-wheeler, we, too must move forward in our faith walk.

We can become lazy in our Christian walk and let others do the work for us. We can sit in church every Sunday and listen to a lesson and then go about our week without putting it into practice. We can pray about things we want to see God do without quieting ourselves, reading His Word and listening for His answer. We can think about the scriptures we know without searching them again for new nuggets of truth that the Holy Spirit will give us.

Now is a difficult time in our nation and world. We can’t gather in large groups. We can’t hug each other for encouragement. It is the perfect opportunity to seek God ourselves. It is the perfect time for us to draw closer to God. It is the perfect time to increase our prayer life. It is the perfect time for us to reach out to others with a phone call or note of encouragement. It is the perfect time for God to get our attention. Will we listen? Will we take off our “training wheels” and ride along with God on our own. After all, no one can take us with them to heaven and we can’t drag another along with us. It’s a personal walk of faith. We all need each other for sure but we go to heaven on our own. Are you allowing God to train you? Are you willing to take the risk and lose those crutches you might have been using and ride forward with God? It will be so exciting! We will feel like shouting for joy as we draw closer to Him! God promises it will be worth the risk. Go for it! Let Go and Let God!