Remember when travel was a great adventure?

What matters most when I travel is that I learn not resent the waiting. I remember how much fun it could be, playing in the back of the station wagon on trips to visit relatives. But over the years traveling has morphed into an intolerable delay that needs to be filled with electronic distractions or productivity.

Waiting as the wheels on the car turn around each and every mile. I can easily dread the 880 revolutions it takes each tire to take me one mile, and click of the airport or hospital room clock. My focus shifts away from living in the moments of life, and resorts to just noticing lifeless moments themselves. So how do I truly live while in the waiting moments of life?

I think life is most truly and deeply lived when we love.

Recently, even from Cincinnati to Indianapolis (and back), I looked past the first glance of boring terrain for something I could love. It became easy after a few minutes. The subtle majesty of the nature, the careful planning that designed and built the highways, the rhythm of the roadway under my car, the unknown stories about hopes and barns being raised in fields of dreams, and certainly my own desire to reach my destination. But how is it possible to love during the waiting?

Loving is only possible for me if I can see the person(s) behind the places and things. I focus on the God who made the trees, the ones who planned the roadway drainage, the ones who in hope are building their lives each day. Soon the appreciation wells up into love for others, and long cold seconds of relentless tire turnings melt unnoticeable into a warmth that gives flight to time. Sure I am left imagining most of the stories, but when I stop for gas and speak with the clerk, the reality of the little encounter births appreciation and fresh joy in the journey.

I will soon be driving more and more miles on a, soon to be familiar, stretch of otherwise boring roadway. I hope to remain intentional about finding and remembering those whom I meet along the way. Life can still be an adventure.