The Story of Life

Over the past year or so, there has been a continuous theme weaving its way throughout my life. Almost all of my longings, all of my prayers, and all of my readings have recently been thick with a single motif.

The theme is that of ‘story’.

By ‘story’ I mean a few particular things. First, I’ve discovered my life to truly be some tale of adventure, or more accurately, some series of adventures. I’ve been constantly swept up into the hands of God, only to be thrust into another fresh, invisible adventure. The fact that the adventures of my life have been invisible is the reason I have missed them in the past; though invisible, however, they are no less real.

This whole idea of ‘adventure’ seems to be the most accurate descriptor of what I’ve learned the Christian life to be. When I seriously reflect on my life, on all of the daily struggles, passions, boredoms, and excitements, I’ve come to see in my life the same repetitive storyline laid out in all classic tales of adventure. Recently reading through “The Hobbit” and the “Chronicles of Narnia” has introduced me to this storyline. It begins with normalcy, which transitions into conflict. A heroic effort of virtue, courage, and innovativeness leads to triumph. An exhaling breath of satisfaction is soon followed by a beckoning to a new quest. This has been the invisible pattern that has woven itself through my days. This first understanding of ‘story’ is the realization that your life is worth living, that there is intrigue, mystery, and adventure if you only bother to look.

Second, I’ve come to see the story of my life as one that is truly epic. The connotation of ‘story’ is one that includes importance and meaning. Life actually matters; there is a point to it all. This whole idea of being a central character in an epic story has invigorated me. I no longer try to create meaningful moments in my day; I recognize that all of them are already packed with importance. Every word I speak, whether casual or fully thought-out, has ramifications that span generations. Though it is easy and sometimes depressing to recognize the physical smallness we share relative to this massive universe, there is an invisible Kingdom I’ve been welcomed into where everything is inverted. Compared to everything in the universe, we human beings are of gargantuan significance. Every small comment I utter from my cubicle, though seemingly small in this world, ripples out with significance in the invisible Kingdom of God. When I’ve intentionally listened to God, I’ve heard Him affirm that my life has colossal value to this whole story He is ushering along through history. When characters in a book—such as the Pevensie children or Bilbo Baggins—recognize that they are actually living an epic tale, they become immediately charged with excitement and purpose.

That leap of excitement has entered my life by hearing God constantly whisper to me, “Brandon, you are smack in the middle of a tale even more adventurous than those. Those stories are only signposts that I inspired to open your eyes to the adventures I’ve created for you to live every day! Go, my child, and live your own adventure!” Understanding that living a ‘story’ leads to a life of purpose and significance has lead to more impassioned desire to discover all of the adventure hidden beneath the ordinary. Once you understand that your life matters, that you were created for a specific role in a grand tale, you cannot help but turn the pages of your life. Like a good book, you are full of excitement with the current tale, but can’t wait to begin the next chapter either.

Anyways, this post was not supposed to be a lengthy article, but I am on riding this wave of ‘story’ all the way to the shore. The whole point of this post was to just update that I’m currently reading two books that share the same themes of ‘story’. The first book was written by the author I feel understands this theme better than anyone I’ve ever read, Frederick Buechner. His book is titled, “Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale”. The second book, not set to be released until September, is titled “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life”. Written by Donald Miller, the books describes how two movie producers set out to make a movie based on his best-selling memoir “Blue Like Jazz”. However, after learning that the producers wanted to fictionalize parts of his life to make it more interesting, Miller started a journey to edit his actual life into a better story. I will surely review both of these books here as soon as I finish them.