A Stumbler's Walk | THE POWER OF STORY

There is power in a story.

I'm prompted to write about story because I'm watching stories. I am somewhere over Indiana or Illinois in a mach-0.6-claustrophobic-tin-can-winged-rocket watching I AM SECOND videos. (Think about explaining that to your great grandfather.)

There is power in a story. I'll get right to the heart of this post... there is power in your story. There is power in mine.

The power of our story doesn't come at the end. We might think that to be: When things are tidy and clear, when the dirt is washed away, when we can finally say, "Whew, it was tough but I've arrived." But that is not the power. Really, when I think about it, once we arrive the power of story fades.

No, the power of our story is in its living. It is - more than in the retelling - in its during-telling. What I mean is that Once Upon a Time... is nice. But telling our story from the middle is raw and authentically powerful.

Transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly is definable. It is quick and seemingly painless. (I've never heard differently from a Monarch.) Human transformations are none of these. Our stories are messy. Sometimes chapter five looks out of place and chapter nine seems completely unnecessary. We write and often rewrite (or even contradict) our own paragraphs. There are gaps, tangent-chapters and awkward pauses.

That is OK. More, it is beautiful. No one can write or tell our story like we can. No one knows the joys and dark wrestling matches that accompany our transformation. Human is messy. The combination of flesh and God-image can be chaotic. (May I invent a compound term? Chaotically-peaceful. Or, peacefully-chaotic. You pick.)

I've always wondered what happens after, "And they lived happily ever after." Is the adventure over? Transformation done? What comes next? The truth is our lives are a series of, Once upon a times...* 

(Well, I'm going to stop here for now. More to come. This hurtling tube of flying stale air just touched down. I guess I've arrived. But only in this part of my story...)

For now...
D


*Read the Apostle Paul's words on transformation in 2 Corinthians 3:18.