What's an adventure? When I think of an adventure, I think of something exciting, thrilling, maybe even risky. We tend to think of adventures as experiences that don't come around too often; therefore, we should *and are constantly reminded by people older than us to* take advantage of them.
In less than one week's time, I will be heading abroad to spend a semester in Newcastle, England. People are telling me this will be the adventure of a lifetime and to not waste a single second of it. I look forward to the excitement, the thrills, and the risks these next three months have in store.
This time two years ago, I was just starting my freshman year of college. Everyone around me told me that college would be the adventure of a lifetime and to not waste a single second of it. But, I came to realize that people only told me what an adventure college would be when I was starting college. By the start of my sophomore year, people were saying "See you at Thanksgiving," or, "Stay out of trouble." Gone were the days of, "Soak in every second!"
Can you only call something an adventure if it's new? When does a once-in-a-lifetime experience transition into what's considered everyday life?
By my second year, college wasn't new anymore. I had one year under my belt and three more to go. College was going to be the next three years of my life. Maybe people didn't feel the need to tell me to "soak in every second" because they knew I had so many more seconds to go.
I am grateful for this amazing experience to study abroad--to live and learn in a different country. I am excited to see things I never imagined I would see, to meet people I know I will never forget.
But, I challenge myself to look at each day as an adventure. No matter if I am in a different country or the same country I was born in; no matter if I am at a different university or the same university I have been at for two years; no matter if I am doing something 'new' or the 'same old', because we shouldn't require something to be new for it to matter--we shouldn't only recognize something's worth when it is new.
Each day is a blessing sent from God and we are called to try our best to live it to the fullest. Let's not forget that each day is a blessing just because we are given a new day tomorrow.
And by my second week of living and learning in England, I hope I am still telling myself to "soak in every second" and that "this is the experience of a lifetime." I hope I don't ever skip over days and think, "I can't wait until *blank*" or, God forbid I start telling myself to, "stay out of trouble."
I look forward to the excitement, the thrills, the risks (and the boring, the trite, the unvaried) this trip (and the rest of my life) has to offer; for each day really is a new adventure, a true blessing.
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'
And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" -Isiah 6:8
