Recently I watched the adventure film Magnetic, a combination of big wave surfing, high risk skiing, parasailing and other hair on fire sports. With the filmmakers’ POV camera work, we of the audience see and feel the athletes “pursuit of their extreme forms of bliss (the film’s subtitle),” ensuring we are tearing down the slope or wave along with the participants.
I appreciated this visceralness because God knows I’m way too chicken to try this stuff myself. And since I’m 68, my hair was fired years ago. What attracts me is the allure of watching others do what I can’t (or won’t), the vicarious excitement of having a thrill ride without the actual ride.
It’s not just the derring do that captivates me, it’s the sense of adventure that goes with it. As opposed to some who write off extreme sports athletes as adrenaline junkies, I respect their desire to challenge themselves and live on the edge. And it’s not just the physical courage I respect, it’s the spiritual desire to go beyond boundaries, to face their fears.
Which I’m not too old for. Hopefully. I want to believe that living life as an adventure is not beyond me at this point, that my advanced age isn’t somehow relegating me to life’s sidelines. Since I think all of us were made for adventure (“that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” John 10:10), I’d hate to think I’d be spending my evening years suffering from adventure FOMO.
So what to do? Take some trips? Learn some hobbies? Volunteer? I still compete in tennis and work part-time, so I can throw myself into those things. But I also wonder: do I need to do something exciting and “out there” to find adventure in my life? Could I find mountaintop experiences without the mountaintop? Is there such a thing as the adventure of day to day? A way to rise above the drabness and banalities? Do I really need to go away, or put myself in harm’s way, just to live a day to day that is more accessible and yet just as challenging?
These are interesting, even spiritual questions. I tend to think my day to day life can be an adventure if I’m being led by Someone who knows what the essence of true living is all about. If it’s up to me, I’m living the cautious life of the road most traveled. I put it in God’s hands, and look out.
Potentially. Understanding God’s will and doing it moment by moment is obviously something that has to be cultivated from a discernment and willingness standpoint. That being said, there is something very exciting about letting go and letting God on a daily basis.
This adventure is not getting away from the mundane but reveling in its nuances. I feel led to call a friend instead of checking off an item in my to do list--I do it. I’m in a rush but feel an inkling to return a street person’s smile--I follow it. Every corpuscle in my body wants to distract myself from writing but I decide to face the blank page. My wife and I cautiously circumnavigate each other for days after an argument but I brake the ice by saying I’m sorry. I get an interior impression I’m supposed to sit there and do nothing so I sit there and do nothing, even if I’m unsure what the benefit is.
Small stuff.
This day to day, moment by moment adventure idea is not a new one and has been touted in church circles for centuries. But it’s easier said than done. I’ve often asked myself why don’t I embrace this kind of daily adventure more often. Habit, assuredly, but a habit born out of fear of the unknown. God in charge means I’m not, and it seems I can’t go for more than a few minutes before I wrest control of the little things out of His hands. But I find if I stick in there a bit, I almost always experience 1) the day is different than I expected and 2) it is better (deeper, more satisfying, even more fun).
There is an excitement and focus when our lives are not our own. As exciting as careening down the face of a mighty mountain? Probably not, but when we allow the mountaintop to be moved into the valley of our daily decisions and experiences, we can have a type of adventure which can be just as profound.
“Each day a first day, each day a life. One with your task, whole in your duty of the moment.”
Dag Hammarskjold
I appreciated this visceralness because God knows I’m way too chicken to try this stuff myself. And since I’m 68, my hair was fired years ago. What attracts me is the allure of watching others do what I can’t (or won’t), the vicarious excitement of having a thrill ride without the actual ride.
It’s not just the derring do that captivates me, it’s the sense of adventure that goes with it. As opposed to some who write off extreme sports athletes as adrenaline junkies, I respect their desire to challenge themselves and live on the edge. And it’s not just the physical courage I respect, it’s the spiritual desire to go beyond boundaries, to face their fears.
Which I’m not too old for. Hopefully. I want to believe that living life as an adventure is not beyond me at this point, that my advanced age isn’t somehow relegating me to life’s sidelines. Since I think all of us were made for adventure (“that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” John 10:10), I’d hate to think I’d be spending my evening years suffering from adventure FOMO.
So what to do? Take some trips? Learn some hobbies? Volunteer? I still compete in tennis and work part-time, so I can throw myself into those things. But I also wonder: do I need to do something exciting and “out there” to find adventure in my life? Could I find mountaintop experiences without the mountaintop? Is there such a thing as the adventure of day to day? A way to rise above the drabness and banalities? Do I really need to go away, or put myself in harm’s way, just to live a day to day that is more accessible and yet just as challenging?
These are interesting, even spiritual questions. I tend to think my day to day life can be an adventure if I’m being led by Someone who knows what the essence of true living is all about. If it’s up to me, I’m living the cautious life of the road most traveled. I put it in God’s hands, and look out.
Potentially. Understanding God’s will and doing it moment by moment is obviously something that has to be cultivated from a discernment and willingness standpoint. That being said, there is something very exciting about letting go and letting God on a daily basis.
This adventure is not getting away from the mundane but reveling in its nuances. I feel led to call a friend instead of checking off an item in my to do list--I do it. I’m in a rush but feel an inkling to return a street person’s smile--I follow it. Every corpuscle in my body wants to distract myself from writing but I decide to face the blank page. My wife and I cautiously circumnavigate each other for days after an argument but I brake the ice by saying I’m sorry. I get an interior impression I’m supposed to sit there and do nothing so I sit there and do nothing, even if I’m unsure what the benefit is.
Small stuff.
This day to day, moment by moment adventure idea is not a new one and has been touted in church circles for centuries. But it’s easier said than done. I’ve often asked myself why don’t I embrace this kind of daily adventure more often. Habit, assuredly, but a habit born out of fear of the unknown. God in charge means I’m not, and it seems I can’t go for more than a few minutes before I wrest control of the little things out of His hands. But I find if I stick in there a bit, I almost always experience 1) the day is different than I expected and 2) it is better (deeper, more satisfying, even more fun).
There is an excitement and focus when our lives are not our own. As exciting as careening down the face of a mighty mountain? Probably not, but when we allow the mountaintop to be moved into the valley of our daily decisions and experiences, we can have a type of adventure which can be just as profound.
“Each day a first day, each day a life. One with your task, whole in your duty of the moment.”
Dag Hammarskjold
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