Living is an Adventure
What is something that young people desire in their lives? As a young person growing up, I wanted adventure! I lived in the Adelaide Hills during high school, and I would love going on adventures in the bushland near my house. I would go off the path occasionally and try and follow the creek as far as I could go, until it became impossible to follow without getting completely soaked in water. I would carry around a stick like it was a sword and swipe away at thistles on the path like they were orcs from the Lord of the Rings. The peace that would come from being out in nature and hearing nothing but the birds and the wind in the trees. Adventure felt right, and it made me happy to be young. Recently though, I’ve forgotten what its like to live in the moment. I’ve been looking too hard at the things that are ahead, worrying about the future, complaining when things don’t go the way I thought they would. I’ve forgotten what its like to simply be.
I believe adventure is something that young people seek a lot in their lives. They love to have something to be excited about and when I reflect on it, I see young people living in their own adventures all the time! Some young people in my youth group get their excitement from being around their friends. They constantly go around to each other’s houses to hang out and have a good time. Sometimes they will organise hikes to go on together and spend a whole afternoon climbing up Mt Lofty and exploring new places. One young person I know made it to their grand final for sport this year and the excitement they had from having so much fun in that sport was contagious. Another is involved in heaps of out of school activities, from choir to youth group to a job at a restaurant to cricket! He gets exhausted with how much he’s involved in, but he tells me that he loves it.
As adults, we can learn from this. It’s easy to forget what its like to be on an adventure. It’s also easy to view moment like these in a young person’s life as unimportant. When we engage with them, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking we know everything, and we must teach young people our wisdom. But maybe we should take a moment to ask ourselves, what can we learn from them? Young people are great at living in the moment and being excited about what they’re doing right now. I think when we engage with young people, we should be caught up in their excitement about living life as well! We should be listening to them share the stories of their adventures and be inspired by them to live out our own adventures too! Maybe it’s time we stopped worrying about the future and remembered what it was like to live in an adventure, because that’s what life is. An adventure God has blessed us to live.
Written by Sam Sachse