Like Riding a Bike
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few breaths, and allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Remember a time when you were learning to do something new and all the mistakes you had to learn from along the way.
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.”
― Neil Gaiman
John 8:3-7
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Food for Thought
I am one of four daughters in my family, and boy do I love my sisters! When I was growing up, I idolized their every interest, copied their every move. Swinging on the playset, picking notes on the piano, riding bikes in the driveway – wherever they were, that’s where I wanted to be. I can remember how, at a young age, my older sister would put me on the handlebars of her bike so I could ride, too. I just loved that free feeling of the wind in my hair, and I wanted to learn how to ride a bike just like her! Then, finally, I got my own bike. I had been watching my sisters for quite some time, and they made it look so easy. So I decided I was going to learn how to ride THAT DAY! I mean, how hard could it be? Equipped with determination and a helmet, I went for it.
Needless to say, I was wrong. My first time up, I crashed right into the house. I couldn’t get a knack for steering while pedaling, much less remembering to push backward on my pedals when I needed to stop. I must’ve fallen a thousand times trying to ride that bike.
It seemed like I might never learn to ride. But then one day, I got on the bike, and it all just clicked. I was doing it! All of a sudden I was riding in circles on the back driveway. It was such a liberating feeling. All the hard work, all the falls, all the mistakes I made in the process were more than worth it. I have never forgotten that feeling of riding for the first time. And per the famous saying, it doesn’t matter how many years pass, I can jump on a bike and know exactly what to do – because it is part of my muscle memory.
Now my daughter is learning to ride her own bike, and as I watch her stumble, fall, and search for the rhythm of pedaling, I realize that learning what to do comes as much from learning what NOT to do along the way. Through a lot of errors, mistakes, and literal scars, comes this beautiful experience.
I think this is true for many great and beautiful things. In this same way our lives have the potential to be made more rich and meaningful if we allow ourselves to learn from the mistakes we make – if we have grace for ourselves in our shortcomings and imperfect moments.
We are called to also extend this same grace to one another. Jesus reminds us in John 8 that we each have our own burdens and our own shortcomings to consider before considering those of another.
There will be times when you or someone else will say or do the wrong thing. How do we respond to one another in such a time? How do we remain faithful to one another? Do we extend grace and forgiveness – both to others and ourselves – knowing that we are all still learning and growing? Or do we write someone off or shut ourselves down? What if, instead, we were to invite that friend to lunch or sit down to a cup of coffee and talk about our hurt? What if we offered opportunities to learn from one another?
Far too often we allow barriers to form without an intention of one day tearing them down. We remove humanity from the other side of a conversation and allow ourselves to grow hardened toward one another – hesitant to look for common ground. Ironically, one thing we all have in common is that we are all on a journey of “figuring it out”.
Being faithful to one another in community means that we must practice listening and learning from one another even when we disagree or experience hurt. It is not easy to be vulnerable in community like this, but if we practice it enough, it might just become part of our communal muscle memory – allowing there to be grace in our mistakes and shortcomings, helping each other to understand the differences that exist between us. Who knows, maybe before we know it, it could become as natural to us as riding a bike.
Is there someone in your life that may see things through a different lens? Maybe invite them to lunch and discuss why they see things that way. Listen to them and share your point of view with an open heart.
Try learning a new skill (cook something new, learn an instrument, etc). Have grace for yourself in the process, and remember that it’s the mistakes that help you learn.
If you would like a printable version of today’s reflection, you can find one in The Traveling Table eBook.
...and don't forget, the eBooks also include printable journaling pages, coloring pages, and Table Talk Cards!
Blessing
God of grace and forgiveness,
Thank you for loving us exactly the way we are. You love us in spite of our shortcomings and mistakes. Help us to faithfully love others the way that you love us. Help us to see others through your eyes and not our own. Help us to learn from each other and extend grace. Help us to embrace each other wholeheartedly.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Take a moment and talk about a time that you have seen real faithfulness in community.
What are ways we can invite people into conversations that allow us to learn from each other’s differences? Why can it be hard to open ourselves or our beliefs to those of another?
Has there been a time when someone extended grace to you when you made a mistake. What did that mean to you?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Discuss together what it means to make a mistake.
Talk about ways that mistakes help us learn new things.
Draw something together! You and your kiddo attempt to draw the same thing. Talk about what makes your pictures the same and what makes them different.
(Bonus: Talk about the process of learning to draw and assure them it’s okay to mess up!)
Meet Our Welcoming Voice!
The Welcome Table Team - We are “The Bunce Girls!” Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, we were raised surrounded by music, justice, and faith. We spent most of our Sunday afternoons gathered around an open table with family and friends where the food was plentiful, stories and laughter connected our hearts, and where the presence of each individual was held sacred. It’s those moments that have inspired The Welcome Table.
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Here are Five Things to Remember When Setting Your Own Welcome Table!