Dunedin, New Zealand, my city - my people

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Run and jump



We drove from National Park (what an unimaginative name for a town? – good grief!) down to Palmerston North yesterday. We stopped for a nostalgic look at the township of Fielding, which we used to visit often. Going into a café I saw this on the wall.

Run and jump

Roll down hills

Grass in your hair

Rustling wind in your ears

Eyes to soak in the colours

Fingers dangling in streams

Ears to listen to stories

Mouths to repeat

Again and again

Drive your senses wild!

I love that concept and feel! I am often too inhibited when I am around people to let myself do stuff that I would happily get into alone. For example, at home alone I put music on up loud and dance with a stupid abandon that would cause passers by to wonder about my sanity. But put me on a dance floor with people looking and my freedom goes out the window! But I do believe in enjoying the sensual in life.

· IIIn January of 2000 I was on a boat on Milford Sound with dolphins swimming along side. “Who would like to swim with the dolphins?” the captain asked. Like a shot I was in a pair of swim shorts perched on the edge of the deck waiting to jump in and swim. Only two of us did it! Later a man said to me that he was surprised that I would do it. “I would have thought a man of your profession would have more decorum.”

· I I was running one day with my Church “Chairman of the elders” and organist. We both were running very freely, the day was ideal weather for running and it felt great. “This is as good as sex!” I exclaimed, then realised who I was talking to. But it was… almost!

· JJust before the weekend of our fortieth wedding anniversary I had a phone call from an old friend from my first church in NZ. When I told him that we were coming up to our fortieth, he asked how we were going to celebrate. I replied that my wife and I were going to go away for a “dirty weekend”. There was a motel in Oamaru with a spa bath and the kids had given us vouchers for Tekapo and Mount Cook. “What” he exclaimed, “You’re still doing that at your age? You’re a minister!” Those sorts of weekends, and “special nights” with wine and mellowpuffs have been a cherished feature of my life. “drive your senses wild!” – indeed!

· W When I was a kid I used to do my early morning paper run. (As a younger boy I had an evening paper route… for a time I had a morning and evening paper round) It was often dark, sometimes raining and cold but I enjoyed the solitude. I would dream dreams of what I would like to do. I would sort out life in my mind, wondering what was going on in the houses I passed and wonder why people chose to live as they did. If I had issues in my life I often found my self thinking it out and would vocalise what I would like to say to the people involved. I would test my physical abilities by setting myself times to run up steps, fold papers or complete streets. I picked flowers I liked and stopped and talked to animals. (I once had a local dog on an evening run, that would meet me when I hoped off the bus, follow me around my run and when I got to the last house I would walk up the path, knock on the door, open it, hand the paper in and return their dog.) On fine Saturdays when I got home and every one else was asleep I would grab something to eat and head away on my bike. I would test myself to see if I could stand on the seat, pick up a tennis ball off the ground at full pace, ride with no hands weaving between the white lines in the middle of the road, ride along the gutter line, race to “wherever” and still get home before the family got out of bed… etc. etc. – I still love getting out on my own, enjoying my own company, talking to myself and trying stupid things. Call me “mad” but I am happy to be that way.

· On Friday my son and I did the Tongariro Crossing. You walk up between two nicely sleeping (but sometimes steaming) volcanoes in the middle of the North Island of NZ. It is a 19 k tramp that is quite a steep climb, and a long descent down the other side. It is a very popular walk with many people doing it. Both my son and I tend to not talk much, we both like our solitude. We headed out and I could tell he had the same sort of mind-set I did. We would see people in front of us and we HAD to pass them. I could see him eyeing them and speeding up. We would walk behind them for a while, then pass and move on to the next group. I must admit to getting short of breath on the steep bits, but I was determined not to stop. Like that little kid doing a paper round, I was testing myself… “I can do this! I can do this!” (I am sure I was the oldest on the track in those early morning hours) In time we left most behind and had the trail virtually to ourselves. It was deemed a 6 – 8 hour walk. We completed it in 5.5 hours, surprising my wife who thought she could enjoy the full day to herself. I got back to our accommodation, sore, tired, dehydrated and slept for about an hour…. But I LOVED the scenery, the little white flowers that you could spot among the rocks, the white moss shimmering in the sun, the fog drifting over the mountain tops, the ever changing vegetation, the wide expansive views all this and more… but also just the sensual challenge of pushing my body, sweating, panting, refusing to stop when my lungs were saying “enough” and speeding up my pace when my legs said “no more”! It was great!

Where does this way of thinking fit in with my faith? I bought a book while in Auckland. It is called “The Case for God” by Karen Armstrong. I flicked to the last page of the book (do you do that?) and found this sentence; “”The point of religion was to live intensely and richly here and now.” That’s a part of what I am doing in these moments of sensual pleasure. There’s much more that can be said but, “Drive your senses wild!”

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