Patiently Pedaling
12 Aug 2016 • Blog Post
When I was young, my dad took me mountain biking in southern Idaho. I thoroughly enjoyed zooming down the narrow trails on my bike, dodging the evergreen trees, and jumping over moss-covered rocks. But the ride back up the hill was brutal. I fervently wished there was a way to just appear at the top so that I could ride downhill once again. I didn’t like the slow and steady pedaling, preferring instead to coast downhill at high speed.
When I asked my dad why we had to make these uphill treks, he jokingly answered, “What? You don’t like this part? The climbs are what we are here for!”
During the next climb, I thought about his answer, wondering if I had been dragged into the mountains by a crazy man. But on the following climb, he revealed his wisdom: “Son, if you never had to make a climb, you wouldn’t appreciate the downhill as much.”
In his 1979 devotional, Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:
Patience helps us to use, rather than to protest, these seeming flat periods of life, becoming filled with quiet wonder over the past and with anticipation for that which may lie ahead. . . . We should savor even the seemingly ordinary times, for life cannot be made up all of kettledrums and crashing cymbals. There must be some flutes and violins. Living cannot be all crescendo; there must be some dynamic contrast.
For me, the flat periods Elder Maxwell mentioned were actually hills. The laborious climbs seemed like an unnecessary torture when all I wanted to do was to ride down the hill as fast as I could. But once I learned to appreciate the calm and steady pace of the climbs, the downhill part of the mountain became even more enjoyable.
I am grateful that my father, and later Elder Maxwell, taught me that there can be joy in both the destination and the journey if we can find the patience to endure the climb.
—Tanner Preece, BYU Publications & Graphics
Tanner McKay Preece is an office assistant for BYU Publications & Graphics. He loves reading, being outdoors, and spending time with his family. After his graduation in 2017, Tanner hopes to attend law school and enter the field of international law.
