A Bear Hunt

During dinner, on my birthday, Jonathan asked me what I want to accomplish in this next year of my life. All day long I had been pondering the same sort of question. My dad started the train of thought by emailing me the following:

You’ve got a lot of life lessons and experience under your belt, but so much of your life ahead to go out and tackle. So, go tackle it. Have a fun time being 25. Make the most of it. Keep making great memories. Look for the adventures along the way. You’ve got a lot going for you. Enjoy it.

It was funny that my dad should mention looking for adventures. Lately I have been craving a "bear hunt". By that I mean something a little wild and crazy and hard to get, but oh-so rewarding in the end. Something that builds character. I'm not begging on hardships in order to come by character through suffering and perserverance (Romans 5: 3&4). Though should the Lord decide to take that route, then so be it. I'm just looking for... well, John Elderege says it perfectly in his book, The Sacred Romance...

"Indeed, if we listen, a Sacred Romance call to us through our heart every moment of our lives. It whispers to us on the wind, invites us through the laughter of good friends, reaches out to us through the touch of someone we love. We've heard it in our favorite music...been drawn to it while watching the shimmer of the sunset on the ocean. Something calls to us... and rouses an inconsolable longing deep within our heart, wakening in us a yearning for intamicy, beauty and adventure.

This longing is the most powerful part of any human personality. It fuels our search for meaning, for wholeness, for a sense of being truly alive. However we may describe this deep desire, it is the most important thing about us, our heart of hearts, the passion of our life."

When I got home from work I saw a card from my mother-in-law sitting on the kitchen counter. In the card she explains [I am paraphrasing here] that she had been praying for me in the early morning and felt that God was saying that this year would mark the beginning of a double blessing for me. Jonathan reads the card and quietly prays, "Lord, please no twins"! I read the card and my heart leaps with in me.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24 to run the race in such a way as to get the prize. I have come to the realization that I have been walking for the majority of this race, and sometimes I've even taken a seat on the sidelines to just watch. My dad talked a while back about going through a spritual boot camp. Paul alludes to that in vese 25 of the same passage saying, "Everyone who competes in the game goes into scrict training..." Like the Refiners fire, producing character, producing a woman in me who is gracious and lifegiving in encouragment.

I know I should tie up all the loose ends I've been rambling about, but the truth is, I don't know how to. All these things have been swirling around in my heart for a few days now. Somehow they are all connected.

To answer Jonathan's question I simply said I desired to be closer to God. That about sums it all up I guess. Looking for an adventure, running the race, double blessings, and spiritual boot camp. I want to be a woman of lifegiving encouragment, of sound character, of strong integrity, of unconditonal love, and grace to fogive. All that by time I'm 26.That's a lot to do in one year... guess I better get busy...