My mother would have said: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”. Interestingly, the General compared notes with my sister-in-law while we were visiting earlier his summer. Reportedly, they are both of the same mindset that their husbands are just alike. Larry, too, reportedly walks around in a fog. I haven’t noticed that is a characteristic trait that we both share. For that matter, I’m not yet willing to admit it is an accurate perception regarding me.
Yesterday morning the General walked into the bathroom while I was lathering liquid body soap on my face to use for shaving. She looked at me and asked: “Are you out of shaving lather?” Without waiting for an answer, she went into the “How am I supposed to know you need shaving lather if you don’t tell me?” Trust me, there was an elongated response on her part, but I didn’t hear it all because by then I had soap in my eyes.
I wanted to say: “I like lathering body soap on my beard because I always get it in my eyes. When it starts to burn, invariably I close my eyes and then shave my face and lower neck with my eyes shut. It is a very exhilarating and risky experience”.
Exhilarating and risky are two terms that describe activities such as skydiving, back country skiing and mountain climbing. I guess there is any number of extreme sports that could fall into the thrill seeker category. All of them invariably provide an adrenaline rush. How about the need to ride 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu?
Interestingly, a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, has found that the motivation for participation in high-risk activities is not always the same. Some participate in high-risk activities as a way of controlling their emotions and their lives.
The researchers from Bangor University in the United Kingdom did not think that “the sensation-seeking stereotype applied to all risk takers, particularly those who take prolonged and challenging risks like mountaineering”.
“When one walks up to the base of a big mountain and enters the high-risk domain, it is most often not in search of a cheap thrill,” said Tim Woodman, head of the School of Sport Health & Exercise Sciences at Bangor, and an author of the study. “It is most often a very personal challenge. We wanted to understand that motive for that personal challenge.”
The authors of the study indicated that those who engage in high-risk sports believe that life should be filled with intense experiences and feelings. How to you take an exception to any of that. The first time I heard Tim McGraw’s song Live Like You Were Dying, I was a fan. Do you remember the lyrics? “I went skydiving I went Rocky Mountain climbing I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu And I loved deeper And I spoke sweeter And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying" And he said "Someday I hope you get the chance To live like you were dying"
According to the study: “Basically people who engage in the more arduous high-risk activities such as mountaineering do so because they have a higher expectation of what life should offer, or what life should be,” said Woodman. “The study also found that this feeling of control over their lives and emotions spilled over into their everyday lives upon their return”.
As I said earlier: “Sometimes I have to read something or hear it more than once to fully understand and process what I’ve read or heard. Certainly that is true of the following observation made by C.S. Lewis:
“We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to work”.
Lewis is suggesting that there is a lack of consistency in our faith walk. We easily get sidetracked and lose sight of the things that God has for us. Yet, Jesus suggests that his sheep follow him because they hear his voice.
I, too, believe that life should be filled with intense feelings and experiences. I may not have the need to go skydiving, Rocky Mountain climbing or riding 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu, but I definitely want to love deeper, speak sweeter, and willfully provide the gift of forgiveness.
You might want to re-read the observation made by C.S. Lewis: “We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to work”.
All My Best!
Don