“Light Hands, Guys, Light Hands!”

So, I take a cycling class at the YMCA. It is a great class that makes you sore in places you didn’t know you could be sore. Tina, my instructor, is a woman of boundless energy and great muscles, and she doesn’t act like what she is asking you to do on the stationary bike is easy. I appreciate that. She also always says throughout the class – “light hands, guys, light hands.” This means – turn your hands over on the handlebars, palms up. Now this could seem like an easy task, but if you are almost about to die on the bike and pedaling with your very last breath, you are clinching those handle bars tightly, desperately trying to hold yourself up so as not to drop off the bike from fainting. To turn your hands over, palms up, is not easy, but it ensures that you are using the right muscles and keeping the right posture. You are using the inner core muscles. It is for your best.

In class one day, it hit me this “light hands” thing – clinching the bars or releasing my grip. In my life, which is it going to be? Gripping my life through control and stress or depending on the inner strength of a friendship with Father God. It was as if Father God whispered, “Light hands, Karla, light hands. You are gripping and clinching so tightly to this life. You are controlling your every move or stressed out because you can’t and believing that by your own strength, you can do this thing. Release your grip. I love you. I have what you need. Receive it!”

I pray that all of us can “grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him – endless energy, boundless strength” [Ephesians 1:19 in The Message.] You must read all of Ephesians 1 in The Message; it is amazing!

Most every week, I find myself in a situation where I need the reminder – “light hands, Karla, light hands!” Just yesterday, I was outside with Maya and Carson, and Ada runs outside screaming, “Mommy, Mommy, the toilet is overflowing.” I run inside and begin to try and plunge this debacle away only to realize that all 3 children have followed me into my bathroom with their muddy flip-flops still on. So, I have toilet water all over the bathroom and muddy footprints all over the bedroom carpet. Where do you begin?! I could walk in two possible directions: Clinch the handlebars and scream to myself – “I can’t do this. I am sick and tired of mess and feeling so undone.” Then, of course, I could also start screaming at them. I wish I could say that I didn’t do either of those two options, because I did a bit. But, thankfully, I also took a breath and remembered my phrase. I placed my palms up on the handle bars and instead said to myself – “This is water and mud; both are manageable issues. Father God, I need your help here, because I really don’t want to deal with either one of them. Help me.” I found some towels, escorted the muddy children back to the kitchen, had a good reminder lesson on mud on shoes and where they go in our house, and we moved on.

I want to encourage you with this phrase – “light hands, guys, light hands!” Celebrate your friendship with Father God! He has chosen you and comes near to you through the person of Jesus Christ. You have been bought with a price of his death on the cross and resurrection from that death. “Christ has set [you] free to live a free life” [Galatians 5:1 in The Message.] In every moment, you can release your grip and live in the peace of his strength. You are not alone. He is waiting for your pursuit; he will always overwhelm you with his love.