Adventurously Expectant

 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid,
grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God
with a child-like "What's next, Papa?" 
Romans 8:15, The Message

My "Go-Getters", ready to take on the world...

In the raising of children, I've noticed that there's two types of people: The Go-Getters and the Content-To-Stayers.
Some of our kids would wake up for the day, fully content being oblivious as to what the day holds...while others wake up ready to take on the world, having to account for every moment of the day! I love both perspectives. Both contain their own strengths as well as their own weaknesses. My Go-Getters are full of passion and adventure. They seek justice and are fiercely determined. While my Content-To-Stayers are contemplative and find contentedness in the simple things. They seek peace and resolution. 
The world and every community in general is a better place for having this type of diversity. We need the peacemakers just as much as we do the movers-and-shakers. Both personalities display unique attributes of who Christ is. (It's as though God knew what He was doing in creating us!)
 Our twin boys, the last of the brood, are notoriously known for asking, "What do you want to do with me today, Mom?" The question has always made me chuckle. It's as though life revolves around them and their adventurous activities! Which is only partially true, being the "babies" of the family and all....
But in all truth - they're always eager for adventure. Each day holds a certain opportunity in their perspective. (And they're not entirely wrong.) And while their dad and I are growing older and slightly exhausted from a life of "adventures", I do so appreciate their optimistic enthusiasm for life. It often is convicting. There's something about their youthful perspective that I know tends to be missing within my own life.  In a spiritual context, I love how Paul, throughout his letters in the New Testament, continually encourages the church to posture their lives in this enthusiastic way. All too often I'm content being timid. Tired. Weary.  I find complacency sneaking in as I grow older and I can easily retire my "life-giving" work in exchange for "grave-tending". In my conversations with my now adult children, I can feel their frustrations with my generation being stuck in this season of life-fatigue. I get it. They're at the starting gate of running their race. And from their view - looking at us, panting with our heads hanging low as we near the finish line, this isn't a very encouraging sight. (We have much work still to do still, aged believers. I still have much work to do.) Grave-tending doesn't exactly spark motivational inspiration. 
But. 
When I dig into the Word - when I strive to overcome my complacency and really seek for truth - I find the answer. I love how Paul describes the solution in Romans 8:15: living adventurously expectant...waking up to a new day, asking God, "What's next, Papa?" With this mindset, Monday is no longer just another Monday. The day instead opens to an entire twenty-four hours of adventurous possibilities! The mundane becomes full of hopeful expectation. And not selfish expectation, so as to be left with nothing but disappointment at the day's end. Selfless expectation...knowing and trusting that the very God who runs this world in fluid motion and perfect, flawless order - is also running and ordering my days in absolute perfection, according to His will and plans for my life. Including the chaos and obstacles that each day contains. Within this perspective I'm able to embrace life as we were intended - without fear. Without timidity. With a confidence an hopeful expectation for whatever lies ahead. 
Oh, to wake up with the enthusiasm like that of my adventurous sons and ask of the Lord, "What do you want to do with me...in me...and through me today, Papa?"!