Why are adventures so thrilling?
Written by: Boxhead Team
Finding Our Hope explores the adventure of what it means to be a follower of Jesus through articles, projects and stories. In this article, Andy delves into his passion for spirituality from the perspective of his Christian faith.
Why are adventures so thrilling? When we think back about times in our lives that were adventurous - going to a new place, starting a new relationship, getting a pet - we realise that we felt more alive than normal.
I think that there is more to life than we typically notice on the surface. Some people call it the spiritual, a hum, the divine, depth - no one word captures it completely. So let’s use the word adventure for now. Adventures give us the gift of seeing things in a new way. It’s easy to fall into routines, where we do the same kind of things every day. That’s comforting, and we need a degree of predictability, but it has the knock-on effect of making us less able to see below the surface. As the pace of life increases and becomes busier we find ourselves more disconnected from the deeper richness of life. People have discovered all kinds of good ways of adventuring into a deeper spiritual reality: nature, music, creativity, family, friends, religion. We have also discovered paths that promise much but fail every time: buying that new thing that we think will satisfy us in a new way; drugs; overworking. The problem with these is that they aren’t adventurous enough.
Adventures take us beyond our own powers to control the situation. They force us to overcome our fear of the unknown, to trust in the kindness and goodness of those we encounter. When you travel to a new place you have to hope that the people you meet will be a bit like the people you know and depend on at home. I have found that the deep forces of the universe are loving and expansive - they are rooting for you. It’s healing to learn to trust the goodness. That doesn’t mean that everything will go smoothly for us, that we will never be disappointed or hurt. But it does mean that there is a goodness that runs deeper, that operates on a different level. When we go through tough times we are never alone. The adventure guide is always there, by your side and on your side, feeling your pain, and offering an endless supply of love.
Have you ever had a wild coincidence on an adventure? Bumped into someone you know while you are in a remote place, hundreds of miles from home? I’ve come to realise that everything is connected in a mysterious way. The deep goodness that invites you on your adventure is simultaneously doing a similar thing with everyone and everything else in the world. The coincidences that surprise us are a glimpse into the interconnectedness of everything. Jesus once told a story where he likened God to a man who said to his child, who had become stuck in a self-centred groove, “You are always with me and everything I have is yours.” You are part of something much bigger.
“You are always with me and everything I have is yours.”