Many of us learned to ride on a tricycle, which was stable and stayed up when we mounted, and kept us from falling when we stopped pedaling. Some graduated immediately to a bicycle while others used training wheels to take the next step forward. After that, we were able to ride without too much help. It didn’t prevent an occasional crash or falling down, but once we learned how to ride we could get back on a bike again and again. Later in life it became our turn to give a tricycle to our own kids, or training wheels on their first bike. We taught our children to ride in the midst of tears and falls. Our presence and support gave them assurance that they were not alone and would be caught when they started to fall. We put band aids on scraped knees, and helped them get back on the bike again, until one day they rode without training wheels or a parent running alongside the bike. They trusted the help that got them started. Jesus loved to tell stories about farmers planting seeds, gates that kept people or sheep in or out, and runaway children that were always welcomed home. He used stories to help his followers have familiar things in their lives help them to learn about and relate to God’s presence and love. We are no different now than they were and it is often the examples in our daily lives that we know so well that can help us to understand practical concepts such as faith, hope, and love. Those examples are around us every day if we only pay attention and consider how they might illustrate what is difficult to explain about how God’s love changes our lives and teaches us how to live the journey of life. No matter how we learned to ride a bike, we had help. And that help gave us assurance and confidence and experience in how to gradually become more adept at doing something new and keeping at it even when we had accidents along the way. And in time even though training wheels were no longer needed, they were still in play for they helped us with the confidence we have today. We even learned to buy band aids for others as they had always been available for us. We have also learned how to help others as they begin, and walk beside them just as mom or dad helped us. You can figure out all the applications of such images and how they might help you or someone else explain or understand the miracle of faith in a loving God who gives us our beginning, runs alongside us every day, and helps us to become disciples for others without even having a second thought about what to do. Tricycles, training wheels, and a parent running alongside are no different that the parables Jesus told. You get it, don’t you? And each will use a different image or memory that will help them to better understand faith, hope, and love.
