I own the day...

Just a few miles from where I live in Bristol is the village of Bitton and from here you can explore the surrounding and somewhat beautiful Gloucestershire countryside. This morning, on a days leave, I  left the house early and headed in the direction of Bitton for an early morning 8 mile run..a time of quiet reflection and a time to release some endorphins! I am soon at the top of a steep decline and am about to descend into what I can only describe as God's own country. To the naked eye as far as I can see are green fields, hedges, fences, trees, cows, sheep, barns, farms, and from my perspective on this lofty perch the fields are stacked one on top of the other reaching to the sky! At the very top just as the horizon reaches the skyline is a long line of trees that appears to form an "eyelash" separating earth from sky...and above are the grey clouds with peaks of blue sky extending for ever upwards. If there ever was one place to view and appreciate the beauty of the world we live in then this is surely it, and at this point I am reminded of a great paragraph from a book by Joel Hemming printed in the mid 70's and still holding true value for me today......


" Four or five mornings a week I awake at 6.00am, anoint my feet with Vaseline and adorn my sleepy body with running gear. It is a kind of worship involving holy breathing, obtestation, participation, atonement, sacrifice, exorcism, karma, asanas and meditation. It is an attempt to find God, a means to the transcendent....I have power, power that propels me cross country, puts me intimately in touch with nature, strengthens me..I own the day! (Holistic Running Beyond the Threshold of Fitness by Joel Henning)