I have done my share of adventuring, and I am sure there will be more of it, but I much prefer my little Hobbit hole and my Green Gables to Neverland and Wonderland.

I am not Wendy. I am not Eilonwy, Alice, Hermione, or Anne. I wish I could be. I wish I had that desire for adventure, that zest for exploration outside my home.

Instead, I am Marilla. I am Beezus, Meg, Samwise, and Piglet. The world outside what I know can, frankly, scare me.

I am surrounded by adventurous people in my life who continually tell me that I need to just enjoy the journey, be in the moment, be excited about life and take risks, but…what if I am? What if I am happy and excited about being in the moment that belongs to washing dishes and doing laundry? What if I am excited about fixing dinner and making sure bills get paid on time?

What if that is my adventure?

Anne needed Marilla’s sense sometimes. Ramona needed Beezus’ example of being an older sister. Jo needed Meg’s consistency. Frodo needed Samwise’s reliability and wishes for home, and Pooh just needed Piglet’s friendship. However scared or unsure these friends were about adventure and excitement when they were in the midst of it, they helped our heroes because of their desire for lack of adventure. That is good, but it is also good that their hearts, the entire time, were really longing for home.

Just as the homebodies need the adventurers to sometimes push them to live a little more than they normally would, the adventurers need people who ‘keep the home fires burning’ and offer places of refuge for the weary traveler.