a whale of a tale

"I think there's a reason bedtime stories always end with 'happily ever after.'

Once everything is happy & there is no struggle,

then there's no more story to tell."

-Steven James, Story

I have this thing about me, this dreaming side. I am enthralled by stories, as imaginary and unrealistic as they may be. I come alive in them. I don't want the story to end, unless I am sure another even greater story is coming next.

So here is my dilemma: First, what is a great story? Second, how can I write a great story with my life? I could abandon all, leave this town, pursue great mountains or great fame, but would that entail a great story? Or would that just be new and fun for the moment?

My friend Donald says that a story is about a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. And, "A story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling people around us what we think is important."

Aha, this could change everything...

I love the above quote from the book, Story. It makes sense! As much as we want a fairytale life, that life does not exist. Fairytales exist because of what is conquered and accomplished before the happy ending. Forgive me if this is cheesy, but we have a great happy ending waiting for us. I am eagerly awaiting the day I see this Jewish carpenter/rabbi who has captured my heart and turned my world upside down. At the same time, I know that once that moment comes, this story ends. I will be with my Love forever. And as beautiful and happy as that sounds, I know it's not all that I was created for.

I watched a documentary yesterday called The Human Experience. Ah-mazing film. If you have Netflix, find it and watch it! It's about these guys who have been through hard stuff in life and want to know what life is like from other people's experiences and perspectives. One philosopher who was interviewed said, "Life IS other people." I thought that was a profound statement.

I've recently been very disturbed by the fact that I can walk by a person without acknowledging them. Or that they can walk by me and completely ignore my existence. That, to me, is a major sign of our broken reality. How did we get to the point of being able to shut down our emotions, live without compassion, and desensitize ourselves to each other's humanity? As MLK, Jr. said, we have developed a "thing-oriented" society versus a "person-oriented" society. So sad. I want that to change in my life. I want my story to be intertwined and given meaning because it's a part of other people's stories. I know I cannot do this on my own, and I wouldn't have made it this far if I had attempted to! We are all connected. And this is both what makes life wonderful and what makes it so hard.

[from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, after Don & friends biked across the U.S.]

"But the people who took the bus didn't experience the city as we experienced the city. The pain made the city more beautiful. The story made us different characters than we would have been if we had skipped the story and showed up at the ending an easier way."

[from The Human Experience]

"Suffering is a journey deeper into the heart of life."

What if a good story is about making your ordinary life extraordinary, not by travel or fame, but by love, laughter, service, sacrifice, and pain? What if a good story is dismissing the fantasy and embracing the every day opportunities to give yourself up for others, for the greater good? What if good stories are really possible, and what if we could create them by focusing on where there is need, who needs it, and how we can submerge ourselves in a calling as worthy as loving others as much as we love ourselves? What if it's not so much about enjoying beauty as we see it, but searching for and seeking out the beauty disguised in the ugly and unforeseen?

I feel like this entry has been patchy and disorganized. I have pieced together thoughts that have been whirling in my mind and heart for months now! I hope it's follow-able? If not, well, this blog is more for me than for you. I need the space to organize my mental processes and the accountability to know other people could possibly be reading them also. And maybe, just maybe, you need to process and hear this stuff, too.

Enough for now. I need some of this fresh, Minnesotan air!

"Dear friends, let us love one another

because love is from God."

1 John 4:7