I’ve been listening to Don Miller‘s, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” Without getting into too much of the book, he realized that life is a story, and that God is asking us to live a better story. In the section that I’m listening to, he is talking about how important scene is. You don’t have many memorable conversations in a coffee shop, or your home, or what have you. However, you do remember the ones that were in an unexpected or memorable place, or maybe did something different in a place you have always been in. I can remember things with our kids, where the scene was different or the things happening were out of the ordinary for the place that they were occurring.

I’m thinking that I’ve been living a boring, mundane story. In some ways, I have, but there have been memorable scenes of conversations over the past 7 years since I met Mary and her kids. I know that I’m not always living a boring story. I’m trying to get into a more interesting one now, again.

In the book, Don talks about a bike trip that he initially didn’t want to do. I would turn into an epic story as he and a group of others were going to ride from Los Angeles, to Washington, D.C. on bikes, for charity. He equated that the beginning would be exciting, but that the middle would seem like they weren’t going anywhere. It would be easy to give up, chose an easier story. Not every story has a payoff. Some just lead into another story.

So, I’m trying not to abandon my story, it seems that there is a part that seems to go on forever. Like the story has come to a halt. I don’t want to abandon it. I need to be on the look out for memorable scenes to have meaningful conversations. I’m trying to be intentional about how my story, and those close to me, how their stories will evolve. That their character arc will bring change into their lives.

I highly recommend this book. I still have more to listen to. I may have to listen to it again.