Hey guys I just want to write a little about story. It’s a concept I’ve more recently been getting into. I’ve always been aware of story. Characters, plots, conflicts, resolutions and happy endings. I just read Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles In A Thousand Years. I strongly recommend setting aside a day to indulge in this one.
So back to the point: I’m going to start living my life out in story form. I want there to be definite moments. Moments I step out of my norm and work hard to make a day stand out because it’s the crazy things we remember those are great parts of our story. When I think about my life so far I realize how true that statement is. I remember some pretty silly things I’ve done or seen. Some great days I set aside for adventure. I want my life to reflect more of those times. I won’t be satisfied with a life that is apathetic I will not just hang around not doing what I am called to do. I believe that God blesses that attitude.
I no longer want to let silly things get to me. Even if it is something serious there are always better ways to look at situations, knowing that in the end there is no conflict that will not produce a blessing. I think about this year and what God has allowed me to see and be a part of. I am so lucky to be living out this story. I am so thankful to be able to do what he has called me to.
I know that each character involved in my life is a part of my story. Egging me on. Letting me be me. Changing me in big and small ways. It’s like everything we are is a little piece of everyone we’ve ever known. It’s a big thing. When I think about it like that it means I need to be the best person I can be because I am a part of everyone that knows me story. I want to be a positive person that always seeks after God’s will. I want that part of me to rub off on other’s stories. Viewing life as a story in these ways really makes me check myself before I speak or even think.
It’s funny how we put so much emphasis on how we think a life or a story should go. You grow up, graduate, find a job, get married, then it’s happy ever after time. That’s what we grow up thinking. When one of these things falls through it’s the end of the world. We don’t look at it as being just a conflict you can get through or a trial God has planned to bring him greater glory. In Miller’s book he quotes a speaker he heard once: she said she had married a guy, and he wasn’t going to make all her problems go away because he was just a guy. And that freed her to really love him as a guy, not as the ultimate problem solver. I like that. It’s funny that we put so much weight on other people. When we need to focus on what we are supposed to be doing or how closely we are following God’s will. When we do what God asks of us it blesses God.
I guess what I’m getting at is that I am choosing to live a story. A great story in which there are good times and bad but with each I will choose to learn and grow with a joyful heart. I will press on and the thing about story is that it is never about the end. Of course it’s the journey, the characters, the plot that really matter. It’s what you walk away with in the end. Why you like the story.
