Adventuring

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

I’m was sitting at my desk when I happened to look up and see through my office window a little girl of perhaps 10 or 12 years old making her way down the sidewalk to my building. This isn’t rare as people are often walking the grounds of America’s Keswick and will venture down the path to see what’s here. However, the majority don’t open the door and come in. They usually continue their stroll down the walkway which winds around the building and heads off into another direction.

That was not the case with this precious one. She came straight up to the door and opened it. Upon hearing it open I called out a friendly hello, thinking surely she’s entering by mistake. I wanted her to know that someone was, in fact, in the building. I waited a few seconds — no response. So, I got up to go greet her but the door had closed and she was gone.

My curiosity led me to open it to see what, if anything, she was up to. I called out to her. She took a few more steps in the direction she was heading, then stopped, turned around and with a cute grin on her face said to me, “I was just adventuring.” With that she turned away and continued her journey.

All I could do was smile. I couldn’t help but notice that she’d had a bag hanging from her shoulder. As I went back to my desk I wondered about the adventure she was on and the discoveries she’d make as she meandered her way around the grounds of this beautiful place. What sort of treasures might wind up in her bag?

It made me think, “When was the last time I went “adventuring”?

Truth be told, I was probably her age. I used to love walking in the woods alone, discovering all the wonderful things hidden under rocks at the edge of the creek or near the ocean. From the woods in Rhode Island where I discovered baby frogs, to the woods in Naples, Italy that led to a sandy beach on the Mediterranean, where I discovered many interesting people whose language I didn’t speak.

Seeing her sparked a desire in me to go out and enjoy the beauty of the grounds I am surrounded by, to revisit the simple joy and pleasure of discovering or “adventuring.”

How about you, dear sisters? When’s the last time you took a walk or did something for no other reason than to take a chance, to participate in what wouldn’t have a certain predetermined outcome? You know what I mean. Risk a moment of your day doing an activity that wasn’t planned?

Your challenge today—should you choose to accept it—is to do something unscripted, unplanned and ask Abba to meet you there for some adventuring that’s just between you and Him.

Stephanie Dale

Stephanie D. Paul serves as part of the Addiction Recovery Team at America’s Keswick as Director of Women of Character. She has been married for over 30 years to Sesky Paul who is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy. They have two grown children.
Her single focus in ministry at Keswick is to image Christ in grace and truth to wounded and hurting women, encouraging them to make Jesus the truest Lover of their soul and the One in whom all hope lies.