learning to ride

this semester school is DIFFICULT.
but Microbiology and Anatomy & Physiology are far from the only things i'm studying these days...
i feel like i am in a constant state of learning.
learning how to be a new friend in a place full of old friends, learning how to be a do-er of the Word,  not just a hearer. learning how to be a better wife, and how to show Favorite just how much i really really do love him.
but learning is hard... i think in this time of instant gratification we are spoiled to the mindset of "i think i will do this" and it happens...immediately.
"i will be a better wife" *poof* magic. (haha!)
but no amount of technology can teach us the things that actually matter most in life. (like, our relationships with each other, our relationship with our Savior, physical health, mental health)
for example: we bought each other bikes as our wedding gift to each other a year and a half ago. (and then, upgraded mine to a road bike this past summer) owning bikes does NOT automatically make us ready to compete in the Tour de France.

this past weekend i was reminded that in order to go the distance on my bike, i need to ride it. practice going longer distances each time we go out. until Saturday the farthest i had ridden was about 14 miles (approximately). But with some new friends, and new determination (read: fear of being laughed out of our new cycling club) i rode 21 miles!! fortunately, i have been doing some other non-cycling training... so i was still able to walk the next day.

but imagine if i hadn't been doing that other training.
what if that was the first time i had ever gotten on a bicycle.
i had to learn how to ride as a kid, and then to ride WITHOUT training wheels. then as i grew up, my bicycle grew with me; it added gears and lost streamers and baskets.
i think our hearts and minds are MADE, just like bikes- to grow with us. the more we learn and grow stronger- the bigger our hearts and minds become.
learning is just the process of perpetual growth. of becoming more of who we're gonna be eventually.
every lesson we learn, every goal we accomplish-is pushing us to the person we'll be when we all sit down to write our memoirs. the more lessons we learn, the more stories we'll have to tell. :)