Jesus on a bike

Julie was getting a little frustrated with her umpteenth attempt at learning to ride a bike. In an attempt to console her, I told her EVERYbody has trouble learning to ride at the beginning. "Even Jesus?" she asked. "Yes," I said, "if bikes had been around in Jesus' time, I'm sure he would have had trouble too."

It painted a nice picture - put it all into perspective for awhile. Mary trying REALLY hard not to get frustrated as Jesus made yet another attempt at riding his two-wheeler. Jesus blowing up occasionally, when Mary gave unsolicited advice yet again. "Try it THIS way, son." "But I don't WANT to try it that way! I'll try it my OWN way!" "But it works better if you keep your eyes OFF your feet and focus on the road ahead of you." "Mom! I'll do it MYSELF!"

It turned out to be a fruitful exercise this afternoon - Julie can now ride her bike! But in order for her to learn, I had to learn a little mommy-lesson first. I had to let go, and let her try it HER way. We have the same nature, her and I. We're both quite convinced OUR way is the RIGHT way. So, needless to say, we often butt heads when I'm trying to help her learn something. Well, this time, she was quite determined to learn without my help, and for a change, I backed off and let her, even when I was convinced she'd have more success MY way. We agreed to try it my way for 5 attempts, but after that failed, she went back to her way, and, of course, that's the way she finally succeeded. I celebrated both her victory and mine (as I ate a small slice of humble pie :-)

You should see my "Julie learned to ride a bike" dance! It puts Michael Jackson's moon dance to shame!