He's getting ready for the ride!
I often hear people say that their life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. I understand what they are saying, in the fact, that they have positives and negatives occur regularly, creating the ups and downs. You also have some around and arounds on a coaster and even stops and starts, depending on the type of roller coaster you are riding on.
Roller coasters are interesting to some and scary to others, depending on the person. They provide a thrill, or some fear, or some anxiety, or a challenge, or just plain excitement. This is what got me to thinking about why we look at the roller coaster ride as a negative. Why do we do that? Are the turns, ups, downs, stops and starts always bad? Do we have a fear of the unknown that lies ahead? Are we afraid to try new things? Do we look for the easy road in life? Does a shift or rattle in life, throw us completely off course?
So, could it mean that life makes you sick?
I think we need to rethink the roller coaster metaphor. I think it should be positive, not negative. We know that life will give us ups, downs, turn arounds, starts and stops. Is that so awful?
There is great anticipation in line as you get to the start of the roller coaster ride. In witnessing this with my children, and our church youth, it’s an excitement you can’t compare. Then you load in and make sure the seat belt or bar is set for safety - you’re protected on the ride. You start something new - more excitement. You go up a large hill slowly - your new start is paced well. Sometimes you stop at the top to catch your breath and then you feel the thrill of the ride down and the push of the ride back up. You don’t sit at the bottom and stay there - the ride keeps going, even though you go through a dip. You do this several times and, sometimes, you don’t know what’s ahead in the turn, but you see it with excitement as it comes. Then you reach the end and either jump back in line or go to the next ride.
These don’t sound bad at all! Seems to me, that the roller coaster ride style of life is the best life of all. You’re not stagnant. Your learning new things all the time. You may have a bad day, week, month or year, but you have upside after that.
Lessons Learned: Let’s roll! Ride away and don’t fear what’s ahead.
Thoughts: Are you on the top or bottom of the ride right now? What’s your outlook or perspective on life’s roller coaster? Positive or negative?
Kinda like going thru fire the clay is harder for the better.....or like watching a scary movie or going on a rollercoster ride, yeah you were scared, but you came out stronger or w/ the movie now your less afraid then you were before. most of the time rollercosters and rides are to make us feel alive, exileration..but w/ dips in life those aren't so fun...but if you take that experience and use it to grow, you come out stronger......thank for the blog post!
ReplyDeleteGreat comment - it's true - we come out stronger after the harder times. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great metaphor. I think the main problem, though, is that some people look at the roller coaster and think, "I'm not getting on it. It looks too intense for me," and go riding on something tamer.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts and thanks for stopping by - keep coming and keep commenting...we need to ride and not give up in advance of the ride...
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