The desire to Experience

I can see the Grand Canyon out of my window right now as I fly back to Philadelphia. Seeing the Grand Canyon has been on my bucket list long before any other item was, long before I even had a bucket list. I knew that before I died I wanted to see this American Marvel. Long before I wanted to go to all 7 continents, before I wanted to see Europe, before I wanted to sky dive or learn Spanish I wanted to see the Grand Canyon.

It wasn’t a burning passion. It wasn’t something I talked about endlessly or hung pictures of on my walls. It was just something I wanted to do. Now I can say that I have seen the Grand Canyon. I could, if I wanted, cross it off my bucket list. But I won’t.

I have pictures of the beginning parts of it but I didn’t take photos of what everyone really goes to see, the widest and deepest parts of the canyon, the part that makes it “Grand”. Normally when experiencing a new place or a new activity there is a euphoria associated with it. Something that in my gut tells me “Here you are. Did you think that you would ever be doing this? Smile. Enjoy it.” This is normally accompanied by frenzied picture taking (Faulty Memory Protection).

This seeing of the Grand Canyon lacks this Euphoria and desire for pictures. Part of it is that I am on a flight. How excited can you get about something when you are thousands of feet above it?  But I have seen things from planes before that I haven’t seen in person that made me go “Wow”.

In the 15 minutes it took from when it first entered my sight until it was gone, I realized I had written my bucket list all wrong. I can’t be excited about the Grand Canyon because I haven’t experienced it. I haven’t stood looking at the other side and shouted my name wondering at the same time why a duck’s quack doesn’t echo. (Seriously – why doesn’t a duck’s quack echo?). I haven’t looked down and thought about the men and women who trekked by there in the past on their way to the Californian dream. I haven’t camped or hiked or done anything that connects me to the experience.

So from now on my bucket list will say “Experience the Grand Canyon”. I was not created to see life, I was created to enjoy it.

John 10:10b - I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.