I wanted to be a lumberjack

I Visited 'gym' again today, his demands are becoming harder to meet, he introduced me to weights today, Dani (the very helpful sports coach) showed me how weights could make every part of me scream in pain whilst she smiled and said it was good for me. I have done quads, core, gluts (!) triceps, biceps, lower and upper back and shoulders - I do hope this makes me run better, even if it doesn't it really is an interesting experience. I have only been there three times and already I see that there is a sense of community, there are nods and smiles and a bit of occasional showing off. Some people take it easy, others seem to push themselves to the limit, one guy was there for an hour and I reckon he will go home and explain to his wife that he been down the gym for an hour, I reckon he spent at least 45 minutes chatting and doing no exercise at all! Today was particularly humbling because as I was trying to take in the various machines and remember settings and what each did, I was followed by a lady who, like me, was also learning, except she was blind, I must learn to grumble less and be thankful more.

Which brings me onto why I wanted to be a lumberjack, well actually I don't and never have. 'The Lumberjack song' Monty Python - 'The Lumberjack Song' Is a comedic song written by Monty Python first performed on 14th Dec 1969 (The day my sister was born!) various versions of the sketch start with Michael Palin, asserting that he didn't want to be a ....... (insert occupation) but instead a lumberjack, swinging from tree to tree'. It concludes with him singing 'I wish I'd been a girlie just like my dear papa', at this point the burly backing singers leave and his sweetheart departs distraught that her man is not the man she wants him to be. All very funny and comedic yet with a sense of poignancy for a number of the Monty Python cast were dealing with their own sexuality in a the country that was still coming to terms with the decriminalisation of acts of homosexuality only two years earlier.

As I was on a warm down this morning, cycling, at the gym I was watching a chat show with 4 women, (you can plug your headphones into the machine and listen), they were discussing a report which said that 70% of women did not want to end up the same physical shape as their mothers' yet 80% of them would, this was all down to their genes, the genetic make up had a hugely significant impact on their physical build. Most people (men and women) that I know do not want to be a lumberjack, however if they are honest most would like to be taller, slimmer, some parts smaller and some parts bigger. The MBTI theory I am studying, based on the work of Karl Jung, suggests that we are born with our temperament, it is innate, like the colour of our eyes, I might want to add 'God given'. The Psalmist says 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb' (Ps 139:13) but the next verse is really important 'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, how well I know it'.

Maybe it is ok to want to be something, even a lumberjack, but perhaps more importantly we are to be thankful for who we are, with all the complexity and dare I say our perceived flaws. Maybe it is not what we are that is flawed but the way society batters us with advertising and 'flawless' celebrities that is the real issue.

For me and my sabbatical journey there is something about understanding who I am a little more, taking those raw elements, genetic and cultural and using them to be the most effective person I can be. Maybe for the church, that I am glad to be part of yet often frustrated by, it is time when we truly embraced people regardless of gender, status, colour, race and dare I say it sexuality. It seems to me that Jesus had this sorted before just about anyone, allowing each person he encountered, even those broken by illness, society's rules or even their own fault, to see that they were loved, fearfully and wonderfully made, that they were wanted, that they were of use, that they could take who they were and shape it into the person that God had made them to be.