Telling Stories
Continuing from Monday, when we experience trauma, heartbreak, or disappointment, we cannot change the past. Maybe something we did spiraled out of control. Maybe we never had control to begin with. Either way, the past is set in stone. There's no going back. What we can do, however, is choose how to respond.
This has been something that has been on my mind, but watching Kung Fu Panda 2 with my family this weekend really put my thoughts into words.
Our lives tell stories, but whose?
Many let "life" dictate their stories. Their circumstances define them. The people in their lives define them. Their tragedies define them.
Others choose to tell their own stories. As these quotes from KFP2 indicate, these people respond to the past by choosing to write their futures.
However, I believe there is a third choice. Maybe it's a lifetime of fighting circumstances I can't overcome. Maybe it's my more recent incident of coming down with Tourette Syndrome. Maybe it's a personality thing. It's probably a bit of the above. I choose option three. I won't merely be a victim of my circumstances, but I don't believe in writing story, either. It's not that I won't. I can't. I'm a poor author. I'm Moses, in the desert with sheep and a bad stutter.
There is a turning-point. That point at which a person decides not to let life toss them in every-which-direction. But I also believe that I'm not the person to take back control. There's a better person for that job. It's not my story, and it's not about me. It's all about God. It's His story, and I'm just a part of that. Whatever story he wants to tell with my life- I've decided that I'm OK with that. In the moments that I'm not- and they come- I decide that I will be OK with it.
There is a difference in simply allowing life to happen, actively authoring one's life, and actively allowing the Great Author the room to write. Don't confuse the three. The journey itself is a story, but it's one worth telling.
This has been something that has been on my mind, but watching Kung Fu Panda 2 with my family this weekend really put my thoughts into words.
Your story may not have such a happy beginning but that doesn't make you who you are, it is the rest of your story, who you choose to be.
You got to let go of the stuff from past, because it just doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now.
Our lives tell stories, but whose?
Many let "life" dictate their stories. Their circumstances define them. The people in their lives define them. Their tragedies define them.
Others choose to tell their own stories. As these quotes from KFP2 indicate, these people respond to the past by choosing to write their futures.
However, I believe there is a third choice. Maybe it's a lifetime of fighting circumstances I can't overcome. Maybe it's my more recent incident of coming down with Tourette Syndrome. Maybe it's a personality thing. It's probably a bit of the above. I choose option three. I won't merely be a victim of my circumstances, but I don't believe in writing story, either. It's not that I won't. I can't. I'm a poor author. I'm Moses, in the desert with sheep and a bad stutter.
There is a turning-point. That point at which a person decides not to let life toss them in every-which-direction. But I also believe that I'm not the person to take back control. There's a better person for that job. It's not my story, and it's not about me. It's all about God. It's His story, and I'm just a part of that. Whatever story he wants to tell with my life- I've decided that I'm OK with that. In the moments that I'm not- and they come- I decide that I will be OK with it.
There is a difference in simply allowing life to happen, actively authoring one's life, and actively allowing the Great Author the room to write. Don't confuse the three. The journey itself is a story, but it's one worth telling.
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