My first proper bike, a two wheeler had a bright blue frame and splendid white mudguards. My dad had got it from a bloke at work because his son had grown out of it, I remember pushing it home, on that journey it was a tatty navy blue with no mudguards and I guess looking back that the previous owner had not got it new. My dad invested time and money and I can remember spending an afternoon on the mill road with dad holding the back of the saddle, running behind me as I wobbled along, patiently, he ran backwards and forwards, until I arrived at the mill on one occasion and my dad was way back at the starting point, I was a cyclist!
One of the great joys of parenting is teaching your child to ride a bike. I remember one glorious sunny summers day during the nineties when I decided that today was the day my eldest daughter was going ride her bike without stabilizers. Following my dads example, I remember running up the street holding onto the back of the bike saddle, then running back down to the house. The penny dropped very quickly that firstly, I am not built for running, particularly on a hot day, and secondly, it was going to take more than one trip up the road to accomplish our goal. I shoved the bike in the car boot and we drove out to our caravan where my brother and sister in law were having a weekend away. When my nephew, who is a year younger than my daughter saw that her stabilizers had been removed, he wanted his taking off as well, by now the sun was beating down on us and my brother and I had a half hearted run around the field keeping our beloved children upright. What happened next still amazes me, even years later, I was done in and decided to take a tea break before the next attempt. Undeterred, the two children got on their bikes, rode a few feet and fell off onto the grass, they got up and had another go and for over an hour they got on, peddled for all they were worth and fell off until they fell off no more, and were off! I was relaxed, and they had done it on their own, how blessed was I to have such a determined child.
Alright, so I am a rubbish father, I’ll take that one on the chin, but in honesty, I have wondered ever since if I would have ever had the courage to let go. Looking back at my old dad, I wonder at what point he had the confidence to trust me, particularly given that if I had fallen off, I would have either hit the hard tarmac surface, or collided with a fairly unforgiving wall. I think that one of the biggest challenges of parenting is letting our children go and fly away from the nest. One of the great events in the Christian calendar was marked on Thursday 26th May and the vast majority of people will have been oblivious to it. Thursday was Ascension Day, the Day when Christ was taken back into heaven to be with the Father. As Christians we believe that on Easter Day Christ was raised from the dead and the Bible tells how he came in human form to be with his disciples, we believe that this was not some ghostly apparition but was a real person, who they could touch and eat meals with. I can’t imagine what would have happened if he had just kept on appearing at random intervals throughout time and we believe that at the ascension he left the disciples to get on with the job.
Jesus had invested three years, equipping his disciples to be ready and able to go out and establish the Church. Letting go, doesn’t mean that we stop taking an interest, simply say “job done, let them get on with it” we let them fly, but still keep an eye on their progress. I learned to ride my two wheeler that fine day and over the years have had hours of fun riding bikes, that’s not to say that I have never fallen off, years later I still have scars. Time and again, I have learned new jobs, new tasks, I have been mentored, I have got it right and I have got it wrong and at times it has been as though my dad was holding onto the back of the saddle as he did years ago, and then with belief in me, he let me go!