the last time i sat, and simply watched the world go by, i was more than a thousand miles from here. and, as im now realizing, facing some of the same challenges. and i grasped then, as i do now, that there is so much more going on here than i’ll probably ever understand. that there is more to the story than i allow myself to see.

i, like so many of us, had given up on the mythos that calls to our hearts. the mystery and myth that swirls through our favorite stories. i’d given up on adventure, on stories worth telling.

in so many ways, ive believed the lie that this life is all that there is. that face value, is real value.

and i am reminded tonight that there is more to the story than i see right now. that life isnt 9-5, pivot tables and time-sheets. im reminded that we were called to live life abundantly. and i am reminded that there exists one who’s very goal is to keep us from that life.

John Eldredge in Waking the Dead talks of this mythos. of realizing that there is more.  he says

“of all the Eternal Truths we dont believe, this is the one we doubt most of all.  our days are not extraordinary.  they are filled with the mundane, with hassles mostly.  and we?  we are… a dime a dozen.  nothing special really.  probably a disappointment to God.  but as CS Lewis wrote, “the value of… myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores them to the rich significance which has been hidden by the ‘veil of familiarity.'”  you are not what you think you are.  there is a glory to your life that your enemy fears, and he is hell-bent on destroying that glory before you act on it.  this part of the answer will sound unbelievable at first; perhaps it will sound too good to be true; certainly, you will wonder if its true for you.  but once you begin to see with those eyes, once you have begun to know it is true from the bottom of your heart, it will change everything.

the story of your life is the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.”

so as i sit, and the world is passing me by, i am realizing, again that starbucks, commuting, and this 2 dimensional world i so often chose to live in, isnt all there is.

i spent the majority of last week in Michigan on business.  and throughout the trip, i kept mulling on the word adventure.  i had prayed, before i left, that the trip would be a success and that i would find an adventure.   the trip went well, and although the adventure i’d asked for did come, it wasnt at all what i had expected.

one comment my boss said last week, stuck with me.  we were talking about hobbies, about how i love antiques and music, and about how he loves classic cars and 40’s big band.  and he said that when he retired, he’d love to set up a dark room, go shooting, and develop his own photos.

he said it wasnt because he wanted to be a great photographer, or that he even enjoyed taking pictures.  he said….

“sometimes, its not the picture that matters.  sometimes is the process of developing it.”

sometimes its not the destination that matters, but the process of getting there.

sometimes, its not where one is headed, but that one travels.  sometimes the goal isnt the destination, but about living life.  and you… i will never live this life sitting still.  i wont live it behind a computer screen, or inside my cocooned world of electronic gadgetry.

life is found when we risk something.  and life is lived, when we get something wrong.  when we think we know something, and we realize that we were completely incorrect.

and completely incomplete.

its in those moments, when another page of our story is written.  and we look back upon the words we spoke, the messages we delivered, the way we loved, or didnt, and we learn.  we learn who we are, and where we need to change.  we learn about our lives, our hearts, our hurts, and the hurts of others.

its in those moments that we see ourselves for who we really are.

and its in those moments we see others for who they are.

(eve)- i once thought i knew who you were.  i once thought i understood where i was, where this was headed.  i realize now, that there may be things i’m never certain of.

that doesnt mean you’re not out there.   life is mysterious, it is mythic, to be lived fully, and should be revered as such.  as deep, wide, and all-consuming.  it should be looked at as an adventure.

and if living in this adventure means being uncertain of more things than i am certain of, then so be it.

because it will be worth it.  because following this story through to the end, because reading this opus, because getting lost in the myth, will be worth it.

because you, loving you, will be worth it.

so i will live in the adventure now, to be ready for that time.  i will jump headlong into the story of my life.  and when you appear, i will be ready.

future of forestry – set your sails