Trail Mix #111, Experience The Adventure

Lately I've found interest in older literature. I'm not sure if it's the words themselves or the men behind the pen that have captured my curiosity. Writers like Thoreau, Burroughs, and Ben Franklin just to name a few. The lives these men all lived are quite different in contrast, yet I find a commonality in each of them that touches some place in me that goes beyond a migration to their message.

Thoreau for instance, viewed life as a grand adventure to be experimented with, and explored. Work was merely a necessity in order to maintain his real desire; to experience life and then write about it. He saw the importance in savoring the feelings of pain and grief. He loved standing in the pouring rain for the sheer sensation of getting soaked. John Burroughs, a conservationist pioneer and noted essayist, published some 24 volumes of his writings. Often he would hold up for weeks or months on end while attending to his literary work. On one occasion he noted that he would be spending the year at a family cabin as he explored the landscape and recorded his findings and thoughts for the content of that particular book.

Ben Franklin, of course probably the most recognized, was enamored with life and the opportunities it allowed him. While not necessarily a literary giant, his contribution to America and it's way of life is unmeasurable. Known as one of the founding fathers of this country, Ben's life became what it was because of how he approached life. He lived by a set of principals. And he recognized that this life was only what he made of it. In his autobiography, he noted "My father observed my love of books and reading and decided that I should become a printer ..." and later he acknowledged, "My new work allowed me access to more and better books ... often this meant that I stayed up reading in my room the better part of the night ..." He loved learning and applying that to his journey. And he did something with the knowledge he had acquired.

These men seemed to have an understanding of the adventure of life; An awareness that seems to be absent from people these days. Computers were supposed to make our life easier, and give us more time for other things. But the reality is, the computer, and now digital age, has sucked us into an existence that finds us seeking adventure through our keyboards and remote controls. We experience life and relationships from our couches and desk chairs. We're rapidly growing out of the habit of living life as it was designed to be lived.

Franklin makes this challenge at the beginning of his book, "Since one can never really repeat one's life, the next best thing one can do is to remember one's life and make that remembrance as permanent as possible by putting it down in writing." While I am a huge fan of folks putting their "story" down on paper, I realize not everyone has a desire to write. That's okay. I think the bigger question here in this for all of us is, are you living a life worth writing about? Do you see every day as an opportunity to experience the adventure laid out before you? Every day you are breathing is a gift from God. And every day is a new opportunity to live differently than yesterday. "I'm too old" should not be allowed to be an excuse. "I can't," "I don't know how;" just excuses. No one is ever too old to change (renew) their mind. Remember, Scripture says that is how we are transformed, "by the renewing of our minds."

Not everyone will be like Ben Franklin or Thoreau. It's not their fame that I want you to see. It's their approach to life. It's how they embraced where they were, and pursued the journey with interest and excitement. They didn't create their greatness as much as they unwrapped it. You have greatness too. Your life means something to more people than you realize. A recent TV commercial reminds viewers that we each have 25,000 mornings, give or take a few. God placed you here to be a part of this grand story He has been writing. Your contribution, big or small by the world's standards, is magnificent by heaven's standards. It's what you do with the next moment in your life that counts. What will be different about tomorrow morning for you?

Greg Tutwiler, CCLC, BCPC