WORD OF THE WEEK
I RECENTLY cycled Route 68, the Pennine cycle route that starts in Derby, travels through Ashbourne and finishes in Berwick on Tweed.
It often takes in the roads less travelled that take you deep into the hills and fells.
This kind of journey, out in the open, experiencing the amazing sights and smells of our countryside, makes me most often feel really alive!
Perhaps what we all want is simple, really: we want to “feel alive”.
We want to feel more than just existing, we want to experience, breathe, be less exhausted, less alone, less afraid, be more grateful, more energised more purposeful.
I wonder, what it is that makes you feel “alive”?
If you think about it, seeking “aliveness” is connected to a lot of what we do. It’s why, perhaps, dancers dance, film buffs watch, music lovers listen, runners run, and cyclists cycle!
Maybe this year what we have all missed is travel.
Finding that aliveness is often expressed through travel, experiencing new places, going to unusual places, experiencing the escape of sea and sand. Perhaps we are all seeking a sense of “life to the full” in these experiences, a sense of meaning and purpose.
They can invite us to dwell for a moment or connect for a moment with what makes our lives worth living.
As I reached the summit of Hartside in the Pennines and started the long road off the summit, Alston moor spread out on all sides, I sang!
At that moment I felt fully alive, at one with the God that I believe is in all, through all and beyond all things.
The God who energises me to meet the challenges of what it is to be alive and living together in this world today and in the future.