Today is a day we have never seen

By Jeff Becraft

One morning last year, I came into the living room. It was only 6:00 in the morning… it is still dark outside.

Brenda is sitting in the chair she normally sits in (she gets up before I do). She says to me, “I have our next adventure.” I said, “Okay…”

Now… this is six o’clock in the morning. This is first thing in the morning. I am just trying to navigate my way to the kitchen. But, I learned from our Michigan escapade five years ago, not to argue if there’s an adventure going on in Brenda’s mind; because I argued against Michigan and Michigan turned out to be a phenomenal trip. So my heart was much more receptive this time… even if it was six o’clock in the morning.

So I respond, “What is it?” She starts to explain, “We’re going out west and we’re going to see the solar eclipse.”

If this had been five years ago, I would have responded in a little-bit-of-disbelief sort of way – “We’re going all the way out west to see an eclipse?” But I had learned from Michigan (which just goes to show that husbands can learn things). A solar eclipse for me wouldn’t be that big a deal; but for Brenda, it was a really big deal. The last one that came through Columbia, she got so excited about it and she wanted to see another one. I’ve learned to trust my wife when it comes to an adventure to be had.

And so the planning began. The trip metamorphosized many times and we wound up picking Utah where we were going to see the eclipse. We also decided we were going to hit four national parks in four days. (I’ve already talked about this in other Friday emails.) It was probably the most epic trip we have ever taken.

It was a grand adventure. And it started out at six o’clock in the morning… for me, just walking through the living room.

The reality is that each day can be an adventure.

I was just walking across the living room. I’m thinking I’m just starting a day and getting ready for work. But the seed had already been planted in my wife’s heart. And that grew into an epic experience.

Each day is an adventure to be had. We can just start off a day and we can just go through the routine and just be thinking, “Okay, I have all this to do today and this is what I need to do to get it done and I will check off the boxes when I get each thing done”… and try not to trip over a piece of furniture on the way to the kitchen.

Or we can go into each day with our heads up and our eyes wide open and be looking for the adventure that is waiting for us that day. We don’t have to go on a trip for a day to be a grand adventure.

Today is a day we have never seen and we will never see it again.  Let’s make the most of it.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at  [email protected].