The BMW Performance Center in South Carolina taught me how to ride (and no, that’s not me in this photo!)

Learning to ride a motorcycle through deep water has allegories to navigating a tough spot in life. I learned that if you try to dash through deep water as fast as possible, you’re likely going to take a spill because you create too much wake, which pushes the bike over.

Slow and steady is true about some obstacles in life, too.

There are other times when throttling up is the right thing to do. For example, when riding in gravel, you’ve got to keep moving so you don’t bury your tire and bog down.

Proceeding with due speed is a great approach to some obstacles in life, as well.

Motorcycling through obstacles is pretty straightforward: Oh, here’s water, so I’ll take it slow an easy; uh oh, here’s a patch of gravel, so I’ll get it and go.

But life doesn’t always present itself in such an easy-to-figure-out way, which is why the Serenity Prayer comes to mind here, reminding us to discern the right thing to do in a given circumstance.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen. –Reinhold Niebuhr

 Ah yes, the wisdom to know the difference. Maybe you’ll think about that today when a difficulty comes up, and think through your approach more throughly, instead of trying the same thing habitually.