Cycling my way to peace
Turning the pedals over again and again, I began to feel the fullness of who I am and how I was made.
(Century illustration)
For a long time I have ended most of my emails with “Peace.” Amid violence and protest this closing has become something of a prayer for each of my students and colleagues. A prayer for peace, an invitation to peace.
Since I began this practice, I think it is fair to say my prayer has yet to be realized. In recent years I have found myself wondering what peace even looks like. What is this peace I sign off with?
Theological tomes did not help me realize what peace could be, and neither did long walks in the woods. It was cycling. In a world that felt stretched and fragmenting, I would go out for a ride and the air would feel different. I started riding without music in my ear, just listening to the crank pull the chain and the wheels run along the pavement and the click of the gears up and down, down and up, all with the wind whooshing in my ears.
