Sometimes adventure shows up with an invite. When it does, it’s best to treat it like a long-lost friend and say “yes.”
Once upon a summer beach getaway, my son and I were talking late into the night. We talked about nothing and everything. Ultimately, we landed on a conversation about the amazing ghost crabs on the beach he saw the previous night. Without hesitation, I asked him to show me.
With the wind whipping crazily and a giant umbrella of stars overhead, we walked along the shore. Tiny cell phone lights guided our path as we navigated hundreds of ghost crabs on the beach. If you haven’t seen these creatures, ghost crabs are sandy gray colored and appear almost other-worldly. As they scurried along the nighttime shore, they flitted like tiny aliens into their solitary burrows. Watching them was both terrifying and thrilling.
The sad part was I almost missed it. Feeling lucky that my son shared the adventure with me, I realized nocturnal excursions were not my usual choice. Normally I would have been in bed and fast asleep. But adventure invited me into the dark velvet of the night and I said “yes.” Walking along that seashore awakened every cell with a captivating memory I will never forget.
Adventure does that to you. It shakes you up and changes every part of you. It made me wonder how many other life-inspiring experiences I had missed because I didn’t want to be bothered or defaulted to mindless media consumption instead. No one ever became remarkable from watching television. That night on the beach left me longing for more in my life.
Down to the deepest part of me, my intention is to create a John 10:10 life. This passage of scripture says, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (NIV) I love those words, "to the fill." Not a pretty good life, but a life to the full. Christ didn’t come so I could live small.
How could I live out more of John 10:10 in my own life? Or at least get better at it? A beach trip was one week – how could I live a more vibrant daily experience? Here are three ideas I am personally getting after to make a less ordinary life.
Step One – Wake Up.
I began by asking myself, “Where do I need to wake up?” It’s easy to put life on cruise control. If I'm not careful, my daily routines can silently lull me into a state of complacency. If I’m honest, it’s easier to choose the lazy way of an interesting life through reading or watching other people have interesting lives. Truly, my social media feed or binge-watching sessions don’t make me a better person. I began looking at my life to see what was already there. I began to notice people on my path, ask questions about their lives, see what lovely adventures were already in my midst.
Step Two – Say Yes.
To see the beautiful ghost crabs, I had to say yes to doing the adventurous thing. It would have been easy to be satisfied with my son's story and go to bed knowing about it. But experiencing something is vastly different than knowing about it. Adventure requires me to say yes first. It takes effort and it will cost me something – time, energy, and maybe some money. But perhaps this is a better investment than mindlessly hoping that adventure might come looking for me.
Step Three - Act Like Someone Who Has Adventures.
The difference between thinking about adventures and living adventures is my brain. If I can see myself as the kind of person who lives adventures, everything is an adventure. Adventure doesn’t necessarily mean climbing a mountain, competing in a triathlon, or scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef. Having adventures may mean a brave conversation with a family member about what is troubling you. It may mean setting aside the easy choice and trying something different instead. Adventure may mean driving a different route home, being the first one to call a neighbor, or introducing yourself to someone you have never met before. Adventures are everywhere when you begin to look for them.
What about you? Where can you invite a little more adventure into your life?
Every day I have a choice to live better. I want to live a life that is worthy of the manner in which I have been called by Christ. I may not scale Mount Kilimanjaro or traverse the Great Wall of China, but I can look for beauty and wonder in front of me. I can strike up a conversation with a stranger and order something crazy from the menu. I can ask good questions and approach life with abundant curiosity.
Ultimately, having adventures is about saying yes to what life has already given you and a bold willingness to live it out.
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