“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” –Proverbs 16:9
I went up north this weekend to my Grandparent’s cabins to help them out on some projects. One of my favorite things to do is walk out to the end of the dock and sit with my feet in the water. I have pondered many of life’s trials on the end of a dock. This weekend I asked God to remind me of how the cabins have changed me. The one thing He reminded me of this past weekend was stories. On my way home from camp I was hit by a thought while driving through the Twin Cities. I had my Ipod in, so as not to fall asleep at the wheel, and happened to be listening to “Open Road” by Bryan Adams. As he was singing, “life is an open road – it’s the best story never told, it’s an endless sky, it’s the deepest sea - life is an open road to me”, I passed a billboard advertising the $20 Million power ball winnings. On the billboard was the question… what is your dream? I found myself laughing at the combination of parallel events. Life is an open road, pursuing dreams and thinking about stories…
I have always enjoyed listening to really good stories. As a kid we used to have “book time” every night.My siblings and I would all crowd around the couch as my mom or dad read aloud the books of our choice. Stories are amazing food for the imagination and impact children in monumental ways. I remember many books that captivated my mind and gave me so many stories to play around with.Sometimes I would spend an entire afternoon reading chapter after chapter to finish a book as soon as I could. As a little kid I enjoyed fiction, but as I have grown a little older Non-fiction interests me more. I can remember listening to stories my grandpa told us about growing up on the farm and taking care of the animals and of course the infamous “walking to school uphill both ways in 4 feet of snow” story. I think real stories are more fascinating to me than fiction because I know they are possible and that they actually happened. It’s kind of like a small hope that appears when you know it’s true, because maybe someday a story like that will happen to you. Real things and real people are even more incredible to me because when told by the authors of these “amazing tales” they become real and alive in a way that captivates listeners in a different way then words do.
In this life we each have a story of our own that we write with every decision we make. The interactions we have, the words we say and the perceptions we receive all collide and form the pages of our story.So many times though our stories go unread and nobody learns, listens or gains from the story we have spent our lifetime living. I am very inspired when someone shares their story with me, even if it’s only a little bit. I think it’s important that as we live our life, we share our experiences and our trials with people so they can learn. Paul gives us a great example of this!
“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:8
As he is writing this letter he shares great joy and passion in sharing his heart with those around him. I think this is a great example, because Paul had an amazing story. Being a former Zealot was nothing for him to boast about, but it showed that he had experience in what he was talking about. Zealot is not a word we use in this day and age, but a Zealot could be compared to the modern day Jihadist Muslims.They believe they are in a holy war against the infidel, and people who do not convert or teach against what they believe as the “truth” should be killed in very vicious ways. They believe that they will be rewarded for it! This is what Paul, who used to be Saul, believed. He even believed he was doing what God wanted and better than anyone else! So as he is sharing this with people, as he is sharing his story think of the impact it must have had! This is not only an example of how we need to share our stories, but also living proof that no matter what sins you have committed God is more than capable of changing us.
Aside from not sharing our own stories I think we can sometimes get caught up in the stories of others and forget about living our own. The other day I was thinking about how we can sometimes get caught up in pursuing someone else’s dream and how much of a distraction it can be. Do we ever take ourselves and place the focus we should be putting on our own lives on the lives of others? I think it’s good to be inspired by the lives of others, but we shouldn’t be so caught up in the lives of others we loose focus on ours. I also think it’s important that we don’t get lost in the “fantastic tail” of the lives of others either. It’s amazing to be apart of someone’s dreams or be apart of an amazing life that God has created. However, we need to make sure that we don’t start feeding on their amazing life when we could be living a life of our own that is equally amazing and unique. We need to take the opportunities God gives us and allow our lives to be changed through the different stories that we can be apart of, but we need to also make sure we are living our own and becoming a story that will change others!
“Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” - James 3:16
Another thing that we need to be cautious about is comparing our lives to the lives of others.Comparing stories is something that I have struggled with myself and is not good to get caught in doing.Not only do you put yourself up against, sometimes, unrealistic expectations, but you can also get discouraged. I find that I discourage myself if I go “I wish I could be like that. How come I’m not that good?” The truth is that God has created us each talented at different things in different ways. We all have talents and gifts and even though some people may be “better” at using the ones they have been blessed with, doesn’t mean we aren’t special. We need to look to God and be encouraged knowing that when we seek Him, He will shows us how to use our gifts according to His will and to the best of our ability. Instead of living according to the standard we allow others to set for us, we need to live according to the standard God has set for us! (Ephesians 5:14-17) Not only do we have different abilities and talents, but we also have different experiences in our life. Some people do amazing things and when we compair them to the things that we do, we don’t always find the comparrison pleasent. Again, we need to remember to seek God out and remind ourselves that we are going to have our own story and that every decision we make makes our story. So why not make good decisions so we can have a happy ending and good chapters in our life?
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:10
My encouragement is to look at your story. Who are you? Are you allowing God to write? Is God completely sovereign over every part of your life or are you still holding on and making excuses? Make sure that you are living within your own story and not jumping out and into others. God has an amazing story for you and all you have to do is go to Him and find it! We need to make sure that we aren’t trying to be smarter than God and write our own story. Everyone thinks they know best… when in reality God is the only one who sees the end result. Our wisdom will lead to foolishness if we are not allowing God to be the author of your life. What’s your story? Do share!
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that thoughts of the wise are futile.” - 1 Corinthians 3:18-20