Quoting Julie, with her permission.

 This weekend, I took Ben and Jeff bike riding. Jeff was on his first big boy bike…not a tricycle…a two wheeler with training wheels.

As we’re on the bike trail, where we’ve never been before, Jeff can’t help but looking at everything around him. As he does, of course, his bike veers whatever direction he’s looking.

I tell him, “Jeff, you have to keep looking the way you want to go.”  He remembers this for a little while, and then starts looking around again. I try to explain to him that even if he really wants to go straight, if he looks the other way, he’s going to go the other way. I keep thining to myself…why won’t he just keep looking the way he wants to go? Silly boy…

Then I realized…this isn’t just Jeff’s problem. This is my problem too.

Even when I know what I want and which way I want to be going…I don’t always remember to keep looking the way I want to be going. On my bike, I’m not so bad, but with the rest of my life, when I have goals and things I want to accomplish…I wonder why things aren’t happening how I want them to sometimes, and I realize Jeff and I aren’t that different. I get distracted and look the other way. And without intending to, I move further from the direction I want to go, even though what I want hasn’t changed.  Even when I am reminded by people that I know love me and have my best interests at heart, I still can’t always keep myself from looking in a different direction.