Do you have a great story? Do you even have a good story? Are you even aware that you are writing a story? Your life is a story, and what you do with your life writes your story.
I just finished Donald Millers new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Its the story about Donald trying to make a movie out of his own life. The problem is, his life is not an exciting enough story to make a movie about. He has an interesting life, but its missing some key elements.
In the book he learns that a great story always has purpose and meaning, its going somewhere. A good story also has a character that wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it. I would argue that a great story is full of tension, unknowns, and sometimes pain. These are the elements that make up a great story. Think about some of your favorite movies and you will see how this game plan plays out again and again in some of the best made for the big screen stories.
The problem lies that for our stories to be good they must involve these elements as well. Do you have a destination? A purpose? Where are you going in your life? And do you find yourself in the midst of tension, and conflict in you efforts to get to your destination?
I think we all want to write a good story, many of us have been lured away from our own stories by things that appear better than our own story, only to find out that it was not what we really wanted. We are invited to join in the greatest story ever told, its the God story. The Creator of the universe invited us into His story when He gave us the greatest gift anyone could give, his one and only son. Its through His son Jesus that we are invited back into the story. Its not a story of warm fuzzies, of always feeling safe and secure, its a story of tension and conflict. Its a story that has purpose, its a Kingdom story, a story of love, and good. Its a story that has been in the making since the beginning of time, and its a story that I believe we all desire to be a part of on some level, we just don’t know how to step into it.
This Christmas season you should remember that its about more than just baby Jesus, more than parties and lights on the tree, more than exchanging gifts, and friendly Merry Christmas with the people you meet. Chirstmas is Gods gift to us, the greatest gift He could give. Its an invitation to you to enter into the greatest story ever.