Explorations

When Bill Watterson ended the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes after many years, the last line that he had Calvin say was "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy . . . Let's go exploring!"  At the time, I couldn't help thinking that the writer had ended the comic strip in the most perfect way possible--it was a sad ending, but a beautiful beginning, one that none of us readers ever would be able to experience as we had experienced the strip during its years of publication.  I think of that ending sometimes even now, when I think of the idea of exploring in my own world, on my own terms.  I love the words "Let's go exploring," for they indicate an interest in everything, and a willingness to learn about anything and everything, as well as a desire to learn new things about certain things that we never have known anything about before.

I love to explore.  I like to see things that I've never seen, to breathe air in places I've never been, to feel the sunshine in a completely new location.  Exploring to me is the norm of my life, for when I explore I open myself up to learning and to experiencing.  The lack of exploration, to me, is stagnation, and I never want to be stagnant at all.  Life's too short, after all, to sit in one place forever and do nothing new or different.  There are so many things in this world that we haven't seen, and I want to do my best to see all that I can see before I die, to hear all that I can hear and feel all that I can feel before my life on this planet comes to an end.

You and I both can explore all that we want.  We don't have to go to exotic places and explore in the buggy and dangerous wilderness.  We don't have to spend tons of money equipping ourselves and paying for transportation.  All we really need to do is open our eyes and hearts to all that's around us and find the places to explore.  Perhaps you could explore your own desires and find out where they come from and what they mean.  Maybe you could explore a friendship of yours, figuring out just what the terms of the friendship are and just how deep it runs for both of you.  Maybe you could explore a hurting relationship and find out what it may need to heal.

This is a magical world of ours--and we all have wonderful chances to make all that we can out of it.  All we have to do is be open to the idea of exploring the "unknown," looking for the chances to learn and see new things, trying to get all that we can out of all this great world of ours.  So let's go exploring!