A matter of Intensity

"There have been times in my life when I felt bored and restless. It took a while, but eventually I discovered that the thing I was missing was intensity. Sometimes the swaddling of the comfort zone cloth begins to chafe a bit."
The black letters stand in a groups, forming crisp words against eh starch white monitor background.

A matter of intensity....
Boredom is a sickness that penetrates even the sturdiest of mind. It sinks in deep, and sometimes sucks you into it's mirey hole of quick-sand. Since I can remember, I have been, what my family calls, an "adrenaline junky."

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"Daaaad... hurry up!" The little white-blond headed girl did not know if she actually said the words, or just felt them strongly well up inside her little body.
Her quiet manner was not any indication for the surge of desire that she felt in that moment.
Clear, blue, lapping waves beckoned to her,

"I'm waiting!" They cried out from the five foot pool... "Waiting for you to splash into my cool, liquid arms..."

The little girl's father gave her the same lecture he'd given her many times in the past, before coming to the pool which sat behind their home in Fuller student housing.
The lecture would not, by any means, have been lengthy to any college student, however, to a three year old, the dad's words seemed to trail on into eternity...

"Now wait just a moment, sweetie. Remember, I need to blow up this floaty, and put it on you so you have both on. Then you can go into the pool."
The child's big blue eyes studied her father... the orange plastic which was the floaty met her daddies lips, and he blew... hissss... the floaty slowly, steadily, lazily began filling up.

Gentle waves crashing against the pools edges, filling the blondie's ears.

"Daaaad... hurry UP!" She thought again.
The aqua-blue crystal waters reflection could be seen in the girl's eyes, matching them...
"Dad is taking too long..."

With that last thought, the lengthy three-year-old felt her leg muscles working beneath her long torso... the hot Southern Californian air rushed past her, grabbing at her hair; dry sunshine reflected off her white hair and tanned body, as the little imp flew to the edge of the pool...

SPLASH!

One floaty on, one floaty off.
"KENDRA ELIZABETH!"

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"I'll count down from ten to one, and then you jump, okay?"
"Can't you count down from five?"
The blue-eyed girl looked up at the tall, scraggly young-man standing before her.

Uhh.... he looks middle-aged enough to be an older brother... I'll just look at him pitifully and see if he'll succumb to the pressure... She thought quietly.

The man raised an eyebrow, sizing the long, bean-pole of a child up.
"You sure you'll be OK?"
The eleven-year old gazed up into the mans eyes and nodded.
"You certain?" The young mans dark eye brows furrowed together appearing as one, long brow.
The girl nodded again...

All geared up, she stood at he edge of the two-story tower.The zip-line stretched before her looking so frail the girl wondered if it would snap when she reached the half-way point.
Asking the guide, the rough-man responded, "No. You go across it too fast. Besides, it's a cord, like the one's they use to build bridges."
He smiled good naturedly at the girl.

Standing at he very edge of the building, the blond headed child looked out across the vast mountainous range... Breathing deeply, she heard the guide holding the cord firmly, making sure everything was in order before flinging her into the great expanse of the earths atmosphere.
"Five..... four....." Excitement overran the girls' thoughts as she listened to the young man's deep voice counting down.
"Threeeee....... twoooooo........."

Leaping into the air, the eleven-year-old-blue-eyed child hugged her string which attached her harness to the zip line...
Extending her arms to her sides, she welcomed the cool mountainous air as it rushed past her in a flurry...

Free!

She thought to herself.
Not a sound escaped from her smiling lips.
Trees glided beneath her, a bird soared above her and mountain peeks surrounded her.


Little did she know, the next time she would go onto a zip-line, two years later, she would fly across the cord, upsi-down and backwards suspended on but one cord, over a cliff.

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This, my dear reader, gives you but a glimpse of my adrenaline pursuing past.
Passion, I believe is a gift, and curse, all rolled into one, which my wonder family cultures.
Apathy is an attitude scorned, or at least in the house-hold I live in. My opinions and ideas have always been very clear in my own mind.

My ideal would be to glide every weekend, along a mountain peek, canyon and crevasses, with but a pair of feathered wings. Mom and dad both joke with the other two young adults, in my family, that I'm an adrenalin junky.

Finding myself rather bored, I asked a group of mothers on The Well Trained Mind Forum( http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149659 ) what their young adult children do for "fun," and what they did when they were my age for fun.

Most responded with excellent ideas:

Host a game night
Participate in historical reenactment
Volunteer
Go on a mission trip
Take a road trip
Mentor younger women...
Many, wonderful ideas!

As I read the replies to my question, the last reply jumped out at me (the the last one at the time). It beckoned me to pursue this mom's idea further...

"This seems to be matter of intensity..."

Intensity!

Intense feelings: feelings one has towards something or someone... this requires passion to be present.

Intense actions: actions that either bring healing or destruction to another human being, or an object.

Intense Words: These usually precede actions. Intense words arouse a great deal of emotion in the audience... such as hate, anger, fear, love, joy, courage...
There is almost never any middle ground when a person speaks with intense words. The apostle Paul and John the Beloved both are excellent examples of this. People, generally, either love or hate intense verbalists.

Intensity, all over, arouses a great deal of emotion in humanity. It also requires a cutting-edge lisfe style, such as Corrie Ten Boon ('The Hiding Place') and Mother Teresa ('Mother Teresa: In My Own Word). Both of these women I look up to in life!

Intensity requires absolute commitment.
Marriage is a good example of this, or so I have heard (although I have never experienced such commitment on such a level myself).
Rarely have I seen a marriage founded on apathy. Apparently, it's an intense relationship (although, like I said, I have never been married and so this is not a personal example, for me)

How can it not be?

You're vulnerable to the core of your being. Your humanity is exposed to the greatest extremity known to man. Your life is to be dedicated to one other fallen, sinning human being....
Intensity!!
The giving if your all!

Missionaries, I think we can all agree, live intense lives. Some live their life on the brink of death, for the sake of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Intensity...
Something I seek with abandon, in life... which is, at this point, thoroughly lacking!


A matter of intensity.