Advent: The season of preparation for the 12 Days Christmastide is a very interior one, with a focus on prayer, study, reflection, and retreat. My focus has been on these matters and on the blog I write for the parish. Getting away from usual patterns for retreat, review, and reaffirmation helps one embrace life anew.
Everything Else: It is a busy time of year for clergy, and while I have been living an Advent "tonality" much of the time, I have also been quite active in and around the parish. Many of the pastoral matters in which I have been engaged have required trips in a car. I find that these things often go in cycles, really. I am very much looking forward to more cycling time, though.
Sickness: After managing to avoid getting anything more than a light cold for some years, I came down with a walloping good one this year, taking about a month to get through. I found it difficult to cycle much...but there were some great exceptions.
Plans for the future...
In the coming weeks I hope to find time to write more about my exploration of alleys downtown as well as some of the pedestrian bridges in town. That would be relaxing. I have a number of articles in mind about various places in town of interest, as well as the topic of "Active Transportation" in general.
Finally...
I leave you with a photo taken one December day of the front wheel of my bike underway. I find the spinning of wheels quite meditative, with their combination of continuity (turning round and round) and change (covering new ground with each turn). I am also struck again and again by the fact that balance on a bike is not the result of carefully weighing everything and getting it in perfect equilibrium, but a dynamic process of constant change grouped around a central mass moving forward. This is a profoundly true fact for life on and off the bike saddle.
There's a blog post in that, too....
Thinking about such things is part of what makes cycling both a spiritual and a practical part of my life. It is part of the essence of "Upright Cycling."
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all. May 2013 be a year of moving forward in the direction of Life in its greatest sense.
Welcome back U.C. I have missed you. Thanks for your great posts in 2012. I look forward to more in 2013. Think about helping us with our NO Third Bridge advocacy in 2013. We could use your help. There will probably be another public hearing at a Salem City Council meeting early in 2013. Your testimony would likely make a big impression on the City Council.
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