Adventure is Here
Growing up, most of my friends looked up to fictional characters like Anne of Green Gables, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Meg from Little Women. Women who provided comfort, stability and simplicity. Whereas, I always looked up to strong, independent, fearless women-women like Princess Leia, Pocahontas and Padme. I looked up to real life missionaries-like Amy Carmichael or Elisabeth Elliot. Women who chose not the path of simplicity and stability, but instead the path of adventure and excitement. Women who stepped into something bigger than themselves and didn’t tie themselves down. They were willing to sacrifice it all for something bigger.
So despite my reservation off and on over the years and my moments of fear and doubt, it’s really not a surprise that I ended up doing ministry and youth work in a different country after college. It was my call into “something bigger” something “exciting” and something outside of myself. My chance to be Amy Carmichael. It was something I had been technically working toward since I was 23 but something that sat quietly in my heart ever since I was a kid. I always loved helping people in practical ways and I wanted to be a part of something exciting. Since coming home, I’ve felt a bit displaced in that. You see, I didn’t really intend to stick around here for too long, but ya know a worldwide pandemic will really have you rethinking your life plans. It doesn’t give you much room to look beyond one week to the next and it can leave you questioning everything. Maybe I am called to a quieter life? A life of simplicity. Or maybe this is just temporary and the next adventure is right around the corner? And if so, how settled should I become? Do I want to keep adventuring on my own? Or do I want someone to join me? The list goes on….
And maybe, maybe it’s not just me. Maybe you too long to be called into something greater, something outside of yourself? Something that makes you want to be a part of a story where you get to play a part. The thing I’m learning as I process these things and learn to be content where I am is that we are all offered that. We don’t need to hop on a train or pack our bags to do it. We don’t need to wait for an invitation. The invitation is there. The adventure is a life with Jesus and a life of making it your everyday purpose to point people to him by your actions and words. To point people to him in ways, both great and small. That is the adventure. It’s not always going to be comfortable and it goes against all things that are “ordinary”.
I am learning to find excitement and adventure in that. In how I can show Jesus each day, in how I can spend time with him and get to know him more. In opening my eyes to seeing how I can be a part of His play and His story right where he has me in my daily life and in my current job. I’m not going to lie to ya, it doesn't initially feel as exciting as other opportunities God has given me in the past. The views around me aren’t as beautiful and wild as other places I’ve been. Beautiful places that made me more and more excited about who God is and what He was doing in the world. Beautiful views really affect me, my determination and my perspective on God and life.
When I look at something beautiful it resets me and makes me feel like life is an adventure, it makes me feel free. So it can be difficult to live in a place where the beautiful spaces aren't so easily accessible as it's been to me in the past. It can feel discouraging when you’ve spent your whole post-grad life working toward something and then being sent back to point A. It can feel very displaced and can shake up where your identity lies. But this is where He has me and life with Jesus is an adventure regardless of what my surroundings or opportunities are.
So today, if you like me find your heart ache when you watch movies or read books about adventure and wish that you could step into something “bigger” or if you have had opportunities that were out of the ordinary and have been sent back into what feels so "ordinary", know that the invitation is there-and it is far from ordinary. Open your eyes to the things that Jesus wants to show you today and how he wants to use you exactly where you are.
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