Advent Visions

December 5:  Adventure

I like ordinary days.  I find comfort in my simple routines.  Every morning I get dressed, make the coffee, feed the cats, take the dogs for their walk, fill the bird feeders, scatter peanuts for the squirrels, take my vitamins, read the paper, work the puzzles.   It is a quiet, peaceful way to enter the day.    If something unexpected disrupts my rhythm, I feel anxious, scattered.     Often we offer a rather generic greeting when we meet each other, such as"Have a nice day."   There is nothing wrong with wishing someone a good day.  But usually those words mean something like, "I hope nothing bad or disastrous happens to you today."  Or "may your day be pleasant and peaceful."

But there may be a better thing we could wish for each other.   It's the child's wish that each day could be an adventure.   Children awaken to possibility, and the child in us still stirs in us to discover some new path, some delightful surprise, that may await us.    We are given a limited number of days in the treasury of our lives.   This season of Advent invites us to undertake an adventure in which those days are filled with wonder and mystery, unexpected graces, moments of beauty, experiences that will glitter in our memories like stars.   

What if we started by watching the sky fill with rose-colored light.   Then imagine where the day's adventure could lead.   Walk in the woods or by the river, and look for the little miracles that often go unnoticed as we pass too quickly by.   Greet strangers on the street or in the gas station.   Go into Dunkin' Donuts and buy everybody a coffee.   Sing Christmas carols on the street corner.   Go to a nursing home and visit someone.   Call an old friend you haven't heard from for ages.   Write a letter to the editor.   Drive to work by a route you've never traveled before.   Buy flowers for someone who doesn't expect them.   Send a card to someone you love and tell them what they mean to you.   Plan a delicious meal for friends for no reason.    Volunteer at the soup kitchen.   Dance.  Pray.  Listen.   What else could make your life an adventure?   What would make you feel more alive?   How could your one, precious life be more holy?

ADVENTURE

Sun, rise on this day

like a flower unfolding

to loveliness, or to surprise.

Let there be a twist 

in the old path,

where a new view may

startle me with joy.

Help the child in me

skip with expectation,

ready for an adventure

of the heart.

Make me glad

to be really alive,

to embrace this wonder

that will never come again.