Going to the Blue Like Jazz screening today made me want to whip out my favorite D.Miller book. If you haven't read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - do yourself a favor and go buy it, borrow it, whatever you have to do to read this book.
"Writing a story isn't about making your peaceful fantasies come true. The whole point of the story is the character arc. You didn't think joy could change a person did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it's conflict that changes a person. You put your characters through hell. You put them through hell. That's the only way we change."
The fact that tomorrow is the last day. The fact that it's only been a year. That God could transform how He did. That the dark will never outshine the light. That He wants to use our stories - even the ones where we don't choose Him. Especially those. It shows a glimpse of hell. Of what walking away from God looks like and what life without Him will turn into. Ashes are not the ultimate end - because that's how He makes beautiful things - out of the dust.
But there has to be an abrupt change to that story before transformation can occur. Where there is no going back, and at this point no going forward because you can't even see past today. You can't even imagine tomorrow, let alone a full year from now.
And here I am. A year later. Because of grace, forgiveness, and total sovereignty. And the story isn't about the tree. It's about how the tree is a part of something much bigger then all of the mess. The tree is a part of the forest. That's what the story is about. The forest.
It's always God's story - never our own.
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