Not Learning to Ride a Bike

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3 - 4

One day I got a call from my 24 year old daughter. She was so excited because her boyfriend in Philadelphia taught her to ride a bike. As I listened, I wrinkled my brow. “Jenna”, I said, “You already knew how to ride a bike. You rode a bike when you were little”.

Wrong move! Jenna advised me in no uncertain terms that we never taught her to ride a bike. She had a Little Wheel tricycle, she had a scooter, and she could skate circles around most young ladies - but she never had a bike. No kidding! We had never taught her to ride a bike!

Now how in the world did we forget to teach our child to ride a bike? For crying out loud, her older brother and older sister lived on bikes. We used to take family bike rides on Sunday afternoon. Jenna was just a baby; she rode in a little seat on the back of her daddy’s bike. We rode on the street and even took short cuts through hiking paths.

I remember that distinctly because Jenna’s older brother – my first born – once “oiled” my brakes so that they would not squeak when I went down the hill. I slid right down the hill past the rest of the family. Ahhhh…. The good old days.

Of course, Jenna knew how to ride a bike! We would never forget to teach our baby child such a thing as important as that! As the conversation continued, I finally realized with great reluctance that Jenna was right. We had, indeed, forgotten to teach her to ride a bike.

How does a parent forget such a thing? And what else did we forget to teach her?

Being the baby is tough sometimes. Although there is a little more pampering in most cases - there are fewer pictures, there is less celebration about losing the first tooth or writing entries in baby books. And evidently, in our case, less emphasis on things like riding bikes.

Somehow Jenna wasn’t damaged too badly by our forgetfulness. She rides just fine now. She rides to work and back to her apartment in the city, as a matter of fact. And, just like her brother and sister before her, she is practically perfect – in spite of her parents!

The beauty of this life is that God has a much better memory than we do. He never forgets! He never forgets to give us what we need in this life. And that - is a very good thing!

Lord, forgive us when we forget important things in life. Forgive us when we forget to thank you for your blessings. Forgive us for taking each other for granted. Thank you for your healing love. Thank you for taking our wrongs and making them right. And Lord, thank you for never forgetting us. Amen