If I had to choose one word to describe India, I would select ‘inconvenient.’ This country is wrought with challenges that eat away at an American’s well-being. It’s hot all the time, air conditioning is really non-existent, sleep is caught while swimming on one’s own sweat, flies antagonize you, ants and mosquitoes are inescapable, the food has the power to either send you straight to the toilet or not send you there for weeks, communication is frustrating as most people only speak Telugu, independent travel anywhere is not safe and not allowed, and nothing/no one is ever on time. Ah, India. She strips you of your creature comforts real fast.
Whilst wallowing in my discomfort during my first week in India, I remembered a wonderful quote my Mom once shared with me – “An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.”
Slammed. By a freight train. That’s how I felt when that quote passed through my mind. Here I am, my mind transfixed on all of my discomforts, the thousands of inconveniences I’m “suffering” under, but somewhere hidden in this experience is an adventure I’m completely missing. Conviction didn’t take long to settle in.
So I decided at that point I wasn’t going to make an excuse for my poor attitude and self pity. The inconveniences weren’t going to hold power over me, because now I was in search of adventure. In the weeks that followed many adventurous moments were born. I began to learn the language, catching on quickly, but still stumbling a bit. At one point I tried to ask an Indian man if he was tired, but I actually asked if he was dating. Whoops. But hey it’s an adventure right? I also began waking up early in the mornings to work out, despite the heat, the requirement of wearing long pants, and an every other day shower allotment. That vigor transformed my day, allowing ample quiet time with the Lord, more consistent bowel movements, fewer desires to nap, greater desire to read and write, and a mental clarity that helped me take in the once overlooked details of my surroundings. India was becoming more vibrant every day and I was beginning to find the adventure in hidden in the crannies of my day.
One afternoon, our ministry pastor invited us to the beach just a few kilometers from their village. While we were soaking in the beauty of the ocean, a woman from the local village approached us in a hasty manner, trying to sell us something we probably didn’t want. My first thought was ‘oh not another hagler, please don’t interrupt this moment!’ Once she got to me, she bent down and offered me a few peanuts. Weary as I am to Indian food of unknown origin, I hesitated for a moment. But then I decided what the heck? It’s an adventure right? And I popped them in my mouth. Best dang peanuts I’ve ever had in my life. Turns out that peanut farms grow all along the coast in this region of India – no wonder they were fantastic. So I bought a paper tube of the world’s best peanuts for 10 rupees (basically 17¢) while soaking in the Bay of Bengal. What an adventure this is – on the opposite side of the globe, reveling in this maritime beauty, amongst precious friends, wearing tie-dye and eating the world’s greatest peanuts! How could I declare inconvenience anymore?
In that moment I caught a dose of humility. I realized I am but a wave in a story about an ocean. My troubles are transient and matter very little to the ocean’s story. My life, my wave crests and crashes in a blink of eternal time. So why should the troubles ever control my focus? Why not ride my wave for the adventure that it is?
I think the writers of the motion-picture “Up” were right when they coined the phrase ‘Adventure is out there.’ But I believe more truth lies in the statement ‘Adventure is right here.’ Hidden in the troubles and inconveniences of this life is an adventure waiting be discovered. We’re given a choice in our perception – will we remain absorbed in our struggles or will we redefine inconvenient?
