Some pleasures of "Being."

I love the natural beauty of this creek - taken on my walk tonight with my friend.

Spring blossom in our backyard.

Night Shelter Collection update
On Monday my wife and I and the Night Shelter Treasurer set ourselves up in my office to count about two days of donations in the Night Shelter Street Appeal. The bank's counting machine was not working so we sorted, counted and bagged well over three thousand dollars worth of coins and a whole stack of notes. We had to plead through the bank's closed glass doors at 4:30 p.m. to get them to accept them as a deposit. The total.... $12,176. Very pleasing indeed. Since then a $5000 donation has been made on line. We sense that there is a new level of support from the community. With sore backs and tired minds we went home, deeply satisfied with our efforts of the last week or so.
My response
On Monday night I was up late wording a response to the National Leadership Team of our denomination, discouraging their move to pass a remit which would not allow our ministers to conduct marriages, blessings or whatever in support of gay relationships. I carefully thought through what I wanted to say and how to say it in a constructive way. It along with others' responses has caused the NLT to withdraw the offending remit. I like to think I made a difference. I suspect that they will do it in other ways in due course. I suspect that the present state of the constitution, once it was pointed out to them, prevented them from continuing. - It would be nice if their stance has become more open. I felt I had to do my bit and was pleased with my composition. In spite of the late night, I enjoyed the challenge of wording this document, seeking to make a difference... it was like a work of art for me. 
Wellington
I had to get up by 5 a.m. on Tuesday to fly to Wellington to a St John Ambulance Chaplains' conference. (Tuesday-Wednesday) I find it interesting to meet up with minsters (and a few laypeople) from a variety of denominations. I would have to say that while I appreciated the formal sessions of conference, this time it was more the informal conversations that I enjoyed the most. As always there are some people you feel drawn to more than others. Over dinner about four of us conversed openly and meaningfully about ministry. I enjoyed the company of my traveling companion. We come from very different places in life, but somehow we seemed to get on very well and the travel/waiting time there and back passed quickly. "I've enjoyed your company." she said as we said our farewells.  People are interesting beasts. I learned that travel and the conference experience is made a bit more difficult with my self-catheterising plumbing system. I can now understand why a friend who uses the same system, refuses to travel away from home. 
Sad news and no news.
For most of this year I have been having conversations with a man in chaplaincy who has had similar prostate problems as mine. He had been told he had some cancer and they had promised radiation treatment. I had been worried that it seemed to be a long time in coming. Well I went to his work this week and discovered he was not there and was not expected to return. I phoned him and found that he is now riddled with cancer and in his words, "It is pretty grim."  I am sad, I have known him for quite a few years and we had a strange friendship that in some ways went beyond that of chaplain & client. It also made me phone the doctor to see if there were any results from my MRI scan... but there is no news yet. I try not to worry, what will be will be, but after hearing about my friend, just sometimes I sense uncertainty about my future. Maybe I will find out next week.
The simple pleasure of just "being"
On Friday night I was exhausted having missed out on a good deal of sleep during the week. I opened the drop-in centre with a groan... "Do I have to?" But to my surprise I enjoyed myself. I helped serve food, then gathered up dirty dishes and washed them. During this time there was a lot of simply enjoyable good hearted, happy banter, and conversation with our guests. We joked, caught up on each others' week and laughed. It was simply "nice tasting" friendship between people. One such incident was when a young chinese guy came over to the sink with his bag that he carries his table tennis bats in - he wanted me to play table tennis. My fellow helper drying the dishes, asked him what the bag was? I said, "Its his bag for his precious table tennis bats." He seemed evasive and said, "Its a bad bag!" My helper persisted saying "Let's see it?"  He showed it. The zip up bag had written on it in different languages the word, "Shit!" "I warned you it was a bad bag!" he said grinning. "In a Church too!"I scolded. We laughed as we headed toward the table tennis table - it was simply simple good fun. Then I played table tennis. While there were quite a few there, I was confident that we had no troublemakers, so I found myself able to concentrate on the game without distraction.  Do you know the pleasure of hitting an unplayable shot against a worthy opponent? Then there is the pleasure of reaching and returning a shot your opponent thought was unplayable, and seeing the surprise and admiration in his face. There is the joy of working out his weakness and seeing your plan disrupt his game. The sheer joy at laughing together at the funny events in the game; the screams of triumph and groans of frustration. Play was interrupted from time to time when other duties called. Other people came past and shared in brief conversations. As I drove home I reflected that it was simply a good night when I felt the warmth of human contact, the joy of laughter and I experienced the simple happiness of being alive with others. 
I saw on Facebook this Chinese proverb. “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”

As I think back on my week, I am indeed a lucky man. These are just a few of the things in which I have found enjoyment and satisfaction. 

Above and below; The incredible lightness of "being".