”While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”
In this Christmas holiday season we often read or hear read the story of the nativity. It is a grand and humble story. It warms our hearts. In this season of the nativity, I hope you will enjoy a reflection on my thinking on life.
As is usual in this blog, I honestly and openly reflect my thinking. Not everyone will agree with me. That is ok. But there is richness in the dialogue and how we all can learn from each other. These are the thoughts that fill my heart and mind this holiday season.
I enjoy a good novel.
In it there are of course some important elements. The characters and how they are developed is very important. They can’t be one dimensional. They must have some complexity. The narrative must flow well.
But above all there must be a plot. The plot cannot be too obvious. It has to develop and flow over time. It weaves in and out of the characters lives and we go on a journey of discovery as we read. If it is too obvious we will lose interest in the book. If there is no plot we end up wholly unsatisfied. But the masterful book is one in which we wonder what is going on. We are eager to find some purpose or meaning and how things can or might tie in.
The most excellent novels have elements that you see but perhaps don’t even really notice and then later they tie in with remarkable and profound meaning. They hit you and you are suddenly amazed at their significance. It all starts folding together and it makes sense. The pages that have gone before this point become cherished friends. You love them and are so glad you got to know them because now you know how important and how significant they were to what was really going on the whole time.
I like to think my life has been a great novel. It thrills me to see events that at the time didn’t seem to mean a lot and how they have come back years later to be of profound significance. There were thrilling times. There were slower times that were spent on developing the main character in the novel. But now I see how important those times were and even the mundane parts of the story now jump out as being ever so important.
Why does this matter?
What is reality? Are our lives meaningful? Are they the product of a skilled author who profoundly knows in advance what elements must be weaved in and out of our lives? Is our story being created for us? Will we be able to look back and read through it and appreciate it? Will we even love some of the passages for how profound they may seem in retrospect?
Or are our lives just happenstance? Do we stumble along doing the best that we can as we scribble on the pad of paper kind of inventing things as we go? Is it like the game where each person adds a line onto the story as we go around the room. These stories can be funny as each person goes up and down different tangents. But these stories are not elegant. They usually leave you unsatisfied. They are like a sweet that you munch on. It may taste good for awhile but doesn’t really leave you satisfied. They are not the full meal with all of its content that leaves you satisfied and happy at the end.
I have strong beliefs in this regard. There is no question in my mind which is reality.
I have seen it played out already. The story has been well written so far. It has so much more depth to the story than I would have added if I had written it myself. I think I would have written an obvious story without the subtleties that I now see and appreciate. I probably would have left out some things unless it made me look better or more dramatic. But mostly – I just would have written a much more dry and direct story.
The beginnings were humble. The plotline took time to develop. The first portion spent a lot of time developing the many characters and personalities. There were a lot of mundane details that I didn’t really appreciate at the time. But now I see how much color and realism and depth they added to the story. In retrospect I wouldn’t change them. I also love to go back and reread some of the parts. Some of the parts are painful. I reread them because I need to. They are important. Some are fun or funny. I tend to skip over some of the more embarrassing parts. I probably would love to cut those pages out but the author felt that they were necessary.
What am I trying to say?
There is purpose and meaning to all of our lives. It is startling and amazing and beautiful. It is more than what you could even imagine. I honestly believe that one of the joys of heaven will be to look back and see the incredible meaning behind it all. Like the sweet taste when you read the last page of a treasured book will be the joy of realizing that God was in charge the entire time. In spite of the difficult or stubborn characters in the book He was able to carry through an amazing story and weave it all together.
God is there. He is the author. He dreamed up who you would be, was there when you were conceived and was there as you grew in your mother’s womb. Your birth was not a surprise to Him. He has loved you before you could even know what love was. He was watching and cheering for you when you made good choices and perhaps wincing a bit as you made bad choices. He was pulling things together and calling to you with the goal that you would come to Him so that He could heal you and perfect you. You are His creation. You were made by Him and for Him and so that you could enjoy Him and He could enjoy you.
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This is one of the 4 spiritual laws that were popular in the 70s. It was an appeal to help people realize that He is a loving and personal God.
Please do not misunderstand. The story that He is writing for your – or His “wonderful plan” – is not a simple one. It is not a perfect plan because you and the whole world are part of a fallen creation. It is part tragedy. It is drama. There is comedy at times also. It is mostly a redemptive story. Oh – and by the way – you are NOT the protagonist. You are really not even the main character. Truth be told – if you had the ability to read and grasp the entire novel – you would see that you are but one character in a much grander redemptive story that pulls multiple elements together with the ultimate goal of declaring the glory of God.
It is not health and wealth. While the story may have moments of beauty there are a lot of times that it is not pretty. As in most profound novels there are parts of it that are truly painful and tragic. We cannot nor should we trivialize or try to neatly explain those away. The story is gritty and real. It has deep flaws in many of the characters and fractures in many of the events. Parts that could be just perfect are fractured or flawed by the fallen circumstances and characters that make up that chapter. The glory and the beauty comes in how the protagonist – both as the narrator and author – but also as one of the characters in the story – pulls it all together throughout the story and in the end.
God is there.
He created you.
He knows you and loves you.
You are fallen and flawed.
But God is much greater and amazingly He can pull you just as you are through a story – a redemptive story – and bring you to Him. There He can perfect you. And someday – we can sit before Him and in great wonder and love hear the author explain it all so clearly that our hearts will overflow.
That is the world.
It is God’s world.
Please, please, please – don’t miss seeing it!
It happens to be one of my favorite books and I deeply hope you can appreciate it with me.
Can you indeed speculate and dream with me for a moment?
Can you think that your life may indeed be a well written novel? What might have to now looked like scribbles or fragmented story lines, might actually be intricately woven together soon to make wonderful and logical sense. It is not a perfect story. Any good novel does not have perfect characters and perfect actions. There are always twists and turns.
But, as a child on Christmas Eve, can you engage in wonder in the thought that there might indeed be an author for the story that is your life? Can you let the Christmas lights reflect off of your rosy cheeks and glisten in your eyes. Could you look for the author and the story that He is writing as you turn the next pages of your life into the coming year?
