I started thinking about how many things we've done and invested in lately to inspire us to change. It all started with one crazy book and an impromptu road trip to Taco Bueno. Ben bought me a nice camera, I trained as a home stager, we were trained in Japanese Reiki, I invested in marketing for my business, Ben is investing in office space to start a private practice, we have read countless books and watched countless movies about this subject, and finally we flew across the country to Portland to go to the Storyline Conference.
In a sense we've come full circle. It has been almost exactly a year since we started making investment after investment to be inspired. Are we living a better story? Are the characters in our story any different than they were a year ago? Have we created inciting incidents?
If a good story must include conflict, then we are some of the greatest storytellers of all time! We decided not to be on a mission team to Ireland that we were committed to and had trained with for over a year, while on a walk Ben decided that if this was what marriage is then he didn't want it, Ben's truck died and we became a 1-car family, my grandpa passed away, I went from working 40 hrs/wk to 10 hrs/wk nearly cutting our income in half, Ben made a professional decision that would potentially keep us in Memphis for 3 more yrs. Some of these were choices and some of these were just life ...all of them have been incredibly difficult.
What have you invested in the last year to inspire you? If you were reading a book about your life, would your character be exciting? If there's anyone in our family that's living a great story, it's Cali:)
Sad that Ireland was not your destination at this time, but praying you will find the life you are searching for!!
ReplyDeleteHmm... compelling questions.
ReplyDeleteThe questions that I ask are similar to yours. But, also, I have to ask if I were to be a character in a book about my life:
Who do I want to read my story and be excited?
(If there is one) Who is the hero in my story?
Does my story being told give others' stories happy endings?
I ask these questions, not in so many words, quite regularly because I find myself all too often living a life of self-preservation. I don't want to live this way. It's not interesting to others, least of all to God.
Which brings me to whom I really want my story to be exciting. Our lives are documented as such (Rev 20:12) and they will, in fact, be read. So, even though Newsweek may feel like my story isn't exciting enough, my local newspaper doesn't find it news-worthy, nobody is blogging about it, and I have no hoard of paparazzi camped across the street, it surely doesn't mean that my story isn't valuable beyond mention.
All of us believing Christians are torn. We know a gospel that teaches us one thing, yet we live in a world that sees things quite opposite. What is success? What really matters? If we are eternal, where is our treasure?
I find joy, peace, and hope knowing that the things that I do may not be wildly popular down here, but brings a smile to the face of the one who paid a great price for me. I want to be worth the price.
Sorry for the huge comment. I hadn't realized.
ReplyDelete