Adventure, high school essay-style

Introduction

Sometimes the adventure of living is real enough to me that I believe it is an adventure, but most of the time it passes me by and I don't recognize it. Adventures are, more often than not, plodding down a road not knowing what to plan for or what to do except place one foot in front of the other and deal with the mundane things of life. 

Two examples:

• Example #1

Did you know, or ever think about, what it was like to be a sailor?  I am in love with the idea of sailing on a real ship someday.  I grew up reading books like Kidnapped and Treasure Island,  and later The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. I read a lot other places on ships and what it was like to live on them.  Between daring exploits of plundering or defending plunder, and in between squalls, were calm seas, itty bitty living spaces, and nothing to do for weeks and weeks at a time except to go through the motions of caring for a ship, like swabbing the decks and keeping the rigging in good order for the moments when it would save heir lives.  Times like these were what led captains to worry because tempers would run high and discontent would infect and flourish with lack of distraction.

• Example #2

When Ron, Hermione, and Harry set off on their glamorous quest (I'm going to try not to spoil things for any of you who haven't read/watched these stories, so don't be very afraid), eighty percent of their time was spent sitting around waiting to either figure something out so they could move forward, or waiting for something to happen to push them forward.  They were becalmed. They had nothing to do except go through the motions of everyday living.  Of course, they were always ready for what could happen, but the minutia of life frustrated and angered them.  They couldn't move forward or go backward and it was easy to waver in determination, easy to loose their tempers, and easy to find things to complain about.  And this was their adventure.

Conclusion

This is life.  What stands out in our memories are the exceptionally good or exceptionally hard times.  Those things are what get written down in books.  But the hardest part of life and the most trying times in stories are the moments that don't get much mention.  Days and days of schoolwork or long hours on your shift, week after week of eating nothing but Lembas bread, sleeping in a cold prairie, noisy dorm room, or lonely apartment, and fighting to remember why we do the things we do and who we do them for when it seems like there's no point to anything anyway.  This is just as much a part of the adventure as the climb to Mount Doom or the mission trip you hope to take next summer.  Don't forget it. You'll miss out on good stuff that prepares you for the memorable times.

But I forget all the time, which is why I love epic movies and stories.  Try reading Colossians, or another one of the short books, in one sitting.  Sometimes it helps to forget about the early church context and remember that it's also a personal letter to you, too.  And marching orders.  And the big speech before battle and the debriefing after.  And...a letter, like I already said :)

The end