What Is Your Story?
Our stories tell us who we are, why we are where we are, and what we are to do. They often give us our best answers to many of life’s big questions and many of life’s small ones as well. Consider this: if you want to get to know someone, you need to know their story. Their life is a story. Each life has a past and a future. It also unfolds in a series of events and scenes over the course of time. To illustrate this, we might wonder why an elderly grandfather is so silent, or why he drinks so much. His story might offer some insights. Was he in a terrible battle in World War II, in the South Pacific? Was he one of thousands of soldiers who fought in horrific conditions, where many of his friends were wounded or killed? Did he see things that he has never been able to forget? To understand someone, it is always wise to get the story of their life.
The practice of storytelling and listening is not merely the province of psychotherapy and counseling; it is what any good friend will attempt to do in order to understand. Such a friend will say something like: “Tell me what happened. Tell me your story, and I’ll try to help you make sense of it.” We humans must work through questions like: "Who am I really?” “Why am I here?” “Where will I find life?” “What does God want of me?” The answers to these questions seem to come only when we choose to know the rest of the story, but that's often where we run into a problem.
For most of us, life feels like a movie we’ve arrived at in the middle. Obviously, something is going on, but we are at a loss as to what the best choice is. Before I get too far along, do not think that I am only speaking about bad or difficult situations. Good things do happen, sometimes beautiful and amazing things, but we typically do not ask “why” when things are going smoothly. It is important to understand, however, that they are part of our story as well. We run into trouble when we are called to sort out the tricky, hurtful, and unexpected things of our life’s story.
Another factor that compounds our search for understanding is that our modern world has removed God from the story. Our technological, science-trusting culture is attempting to connect the dots without God. Mankind has been looking to science for the answers. This foolish and failed venture has been gaining speed for the past century or two. The most common answer that atheist-leaning science can give for life and its complexities is that we are cosmic accidents. There is no real and lasting purpose. This type of thinking promotes a bleak, pessimistic, and sad story.
Christianity speaks to the idea that our story has meaning; that there is a divine plan. Let me illustrate it this way: Walk into any large mall, museum, amusement park, university, or hospital, and you will typically find a large map. On the map, you will find a red star and the encouraging words, “You are here.” These maps are offered so that a visitor can have some perspective on where they are. With this help, you will know where to turn and which direction to go. God offers us that same help. God has given us His Word — The Bible. In the Bible, we are given instructions regarding life. In Scripture, God tells us a grand story. This story speaks of the creation of this world. It tells what this world was created for. God has told us that we were created to have fellowship with Him. We are also told that mankind has sinned, has fallen away from God, and that we need His help. How we get that help is an amazing story in its own right.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He [God] has set eternity in the human heart." (NIV) This teaches us that this yearning and searching for meaning is no accident. To be brutally honest, most people have been brainwashed into believing two equally damning lies. One lie is to assume that your life, your story, is whatever you make it to be. The sinister part of this lie leans into the truth that we are free to make choices. However, the problem is that we do not have the wisdom and power to make these choices work out right all the time. The second lie is that life has no meaning. When we see bad things, we are taught to assume that there is no foundational story. Again, it is the theory that life is an accident. The problem here is that our hearts tell us differently. We yearn for something better.
We instinctively believe that life has purpose and that the story can and should be good. We have a sense of hope because that is the way God designed us. Continue with me next week as we dig deeper into this idea that God has designed and is orchestrating a great story. Keep looking up!