Is life with Christ just about a list of rules? Or is there a Larger Story? John Eldredge addressed this in his book, A Sacred Romance, which is a wonderful book that I read with a group of women in a small group in Colorado. So many times I think we get trapped in our own "smaller stories" that we forget that there is a grand story going on.
Here is an excerpt:
"The Religious Man or Woman is a popular story option in which we try to reduce the wildness of life by constructing a system of promises and rewards, a contract that will obligate God to grant us exemption from the Arrows. It really doesn’t matter what the particular group bargain is—doctrinal adherence, moral living, or some sort of spiritual experience—the desire is the same: taming God in order to tame life. Never mind those deep yearnings of the soul; never mind the nagging awareness that God is not cooperating. If the system isn’t working, it’s because we’re not doing it right. There’s always something to work on, with the promise of abundant life just around the corner. Plenty of churches and leaders are ready to show you how to cut a deal.
These stories comprise what James McClendon calls the “tournament of narratives” in our culture, a clash of many small dramas competing for our heart. Through baseball and politics and music and sex and even church, we are searching desperately for a Larger Story in which to live and find our role. All of these smaller stories offer a taste of meaning, adventure, or connectedness. But none of them offer the real thing; they aren’t large enough. Our loss of confidence in a Larger Story is the reason we demand immediate gratification. We need a sense of being alive now, for now is all we have. Without a past that was planned for us and a future that waits for us, we are trapped in the present. There’s not enough room for our souls in the present."
(The Sacred Romance , 42–43)
3 comments:
The smaller stories are smaller dreams. He allows them to be smashed so that we eventually see the bigger story and dream the bigger dream..Then the smaller dreams (desires) fall away and create space for Him, space He yearns to fill...
Yes. Amen.
My soul yearns for the future. yet I constantly get trapped in the smaller stories of my life. i lose perspective. however, i do want the larger story, the BIG drama; not the little dramas that i create in my own mind. this necessitates trust and faith. it requires waiting. hmm. i would think by now, i would be able to be a lot better at this than i am. but I am not going to beat myself up. i am a saint in His eyes. so I press on. i just pray for a better tomorrow, or set of tomorows, always. an acknowledgement that I am being tranformed daily. that the renewal is a lifetime. that as long as I am "putting one arm in front of the other" and swimming forward, I will make it. And resting in His loving embrace along the way, knowing I will not drown, that my head is lifted up, and that I am aimed for the finish. and that when I fail, he picks me up again. Compassion at its best.
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