So, between all the fun of climbing mountains and learning new outdoor skills...I have been processing the idea of our bigger story. Today I remembered a paper I wrote last year for a class and felt it was something good to share. If you are up for reading here goes:
Why Stories?
People everywhere have always told stories. In cultures where written language was not readily used, oral storytellers were common. In written cultures there is an overabundance of books containing stories and within the last century has come the development of movies and other multimedia. We love to read, watch, hear, and observe these stories. But why stories? As humans we desire to tell, be a part of, and be engaged in stories; possible reasons for this may be our recognition of being a part of something bigger, yearning for adventure and passion, and the power of stories to transform lives.
As children we can all remember yearning to hear or read a story. We wanted to know the ending or have a particular part read over and over to us. We found ourselves wrapped up in the Beast trying to win Belle’s heart in Beauty and the Beast. There are those of us who yearned to be Tristan, a man wild at heart, in the movie Legends of the Fall. We, as children grow into adults with an insatiable desire for stories within our lives.
Our hearts yearn for adventure, love, passion, purpose, and all the good things in life. Whether we choose to admit it or not, we all feel life should include these things. That is why in every story that seems to enter our realm, we discover they include one of these elements. It cannot be denied though that within the presence of these things we find pain, struggle, hardship, risk, and things that go amiss. But somewhere amidst these trials, our ears lean closer and our hearts throb that through these climatic moments we will discover the purpose of this story.
Our hearts know that we were meant to see the possibilities in life. As a child did you ever find yourself daydreaming? We seemed to once have the ability to dream up all the things we could be and do in life. The stories that surround us allow us to follow a character wherever he/she goes and feel and experience what they do. We were the warrior wielding a sword, masterfully defending our king, and in the end discovering the hidden prince/princess within us. We were Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit who may have preferred the comforts of his own home, yet who was called instead to sacrifice his comfort to save all of middle earth. We read these stories because we discover that our eyes are opened and we can glimpse something about ourselves.
Stories are one of the most natural ways we have to communicate with others. They are powerful, they allow us to connect with others as well as capture our imagination, inspire us, and challenge us. As children we learned important values through the telling of stories. Maybe we were inspired by the little boy in The Little Hero of Holland. This small boy taught us about perseverance through his willingness to hold on, hold fast, and hold out for as long as it takes, even if it meant holding back the entire sea. Or maybe we discovered the moral of being honest through the eyes of a small wooden puppet in Pinocchio. These stories form our values and our internal lives.
Our minds recognize that stories are the way faith and culture is passed on through generations. Every people group has passed on their culture and beliefs through stories. In fact, the Bible was passed as an oral story and contains stories and poetry. Jesus himself was known as a story-teller. Jesus recognized people’s desire for stories, and used it to convey many of his truths. To tell of his Father’s will, Jesus tells a story of a shepherd in Matthew 18:12-14. Jesus spoke to them about something common, a shepherd and his sheep, and told them a story of a lost sheep. This shepherd went out, leaving his ninety-nine sheep, to search for that one lost sheep. Jesus could have merely communicated the fact that God’s will is that none would perish but, somehow he knew people would understand only when they heard the story of the shepherd’s desperate search.
In our minds we know stories are for everyone. People everywhere have many learning styles but stories, through multi-presentation, can reach everyone. Whether oral, written, or presented in a multimedia fashion, stories address all people. We are all born with the ability to learn and share through our stories. With words we share a friends hilarious mishap, as well as, the first time we met that special someone. Through songs and poetry we express our emotions of those glorious and sad moments within our lives.
Stories help us remember and memorialize people and events. We tell stories of the key moments in our lives so as not to forget the feelings and emotions that went with them. We may tell stories to remember and commemorate a person and their actions because we feel they did something worth remembering. This is the reason why we remember that in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We remember Beowulf as a great warrior and dragon-slayer because of the story told to memorialize his tale. These stories let us remember these people and events.
Our lives are stories; they are journeys within themselves. We may feel we have lost our tale or are unsure of the purpose. But somewhere lodged deep within our hearts, minds, and souls we know that this is a journey that is a part of a bigger something: a bigger story that goes beyond ourselves. We see our own personal journeys, and recognize that there is something beyond us. We recognize that and yearn to know other stories. In our searching we find many stories and still our hearts yearn for the original Author. As Chesterton(2007) proclaims “I had always felt life first as a story-and if there is a story there is a storyteller(p.70).
There are many reasons for why we desire stories but maybe the most obvious is that we are a part of a bigger story that was written by the original author - God. This is the story that includes all the essential elements from the beginning, from people’s rejection of God’s will, to His relentless pursuit to rescue us back to Him. The story of God begins with His creation soon to be followed by the fall of man, then a promise of restoration for the people of God. This rescue plan includes God’s only son Jesus, Jesus disciples the church and His followers. Then to end off His story God completely restores the world and His creation.
If someone feels they have lost their story, they may find themselves rejecting the possibility of our hearts yearning for stories. A heart can be embittered by the disenchantment of divorce, reason, depression, war, lost love, and boredom. We begin to feel uncertain and purposeless. Our minds wonder if this life really signifies anything. Stop for one moment and think of your favorite stories in movies and books. What is the story line? What is it that draws and intrigues you about that story? Is it the love, adventure, danger, heroism, battle of good and evil, or unbeatable odds? All of these stories of our lives follow a storyline structure; this structure is similar because each is part of the bigger story of life. Things were once good, then something awful happened, and now a great battle must be fought or a journey taken. At just the right moment (which feels like the last possible moment), a hero comes and sets things right, and life is found again(Eldredge, 2004). This larger story, God’s story, is written on the hearts of humans whether we choose to acknowledge its presence.
Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are some who may rush to the end in an attempt to discover what happens. Yet, it is somewhere along the journey that we find that the journey itself is how the character reaches the end. We are in the midst of our own journeys that are part of a larger story. As a result, we have a desire to hear others stories, be engaged in stories, and tell our own stories. We hold this desire out of realization of being a part of something bigger, yearning for adventure and passion, and the power of stories to transform lives. Our journeys continue as we go along this road in hopeful expectation for our ‘happily ever after.’
References
Chesterton, G.K. (2007). Orthodoxy. Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.
Eldredge, John (2004). Epic. Nashville. Thomas Nelson, Inc.
