Share Your Passion | Story | Meghan

3/29/14


I have known Meghan for almost two years now.  I first met her when she was in my prayer group in the Fall of 2012.  We had bistro dates every week, and we immediately bonded over our love of Asians.  She also introduced me to foggy londons a week ago, and I may or may not have had four of them since then.  She hails from the land of leis and hula girls.  Meghan knows how to brighten people's day, just with her adorable smile.  She is sweet, creative, and passionate.  She is friendly, witty, and takes life as it comes.  She is incredibly intelligent and I love to listen to all of her new-found nuggets of information along with her creative ideas.  She is also super cute, no matter how many times she denies it.

My passion in life is Story. It love it. So much so, in fact, that is has become entangled with every aspect of my life. It has shaped my understanding of this world-- and the people who populate it-- and it is the foundation on which much of my beliefs about God and life are built. I think I should clarify here that when I say 'Story' I don't just mean books-- though I love a good book more than I love air sometimes-- I mean anything that has a narrative aspect to it. Art, music, movies, if it has a story to it, I love it. (It is probably the reason why I am not particularly enamored of sports or abstract art or poetry; it is heavy on emotion and action, but often time the story is lacking. There are, of course exceptions, but not enough to belie the rule.)

For as long as I can remember, Story has been a passion-- or obsession-- of mine, to the point that even though I thoroughly disliked reading and writing when I was young, I forced myself to learn to love them so that I would gain better access to stories. Now, of course, I could no more go without reading or writing than I could breathing. I can express myself through the written word far more clearly and eloquently than I ever could speaking, and through books I am able to understand people far better than I could just by any other means (books are, after all, little more than a story shaped by the worldview and beliefs of the author; by reading a good book you get the double pleasure of enjoying a well-crafted story and a look into the mind and thoughts of an individual besides yourself. But I digress.)

 
Though there are many aspects of him that inspire awe and wonder, it is God's role as Author that has captivated me. Honestly, the title of Author seems to me to be inadequate to describe him; what he did was so much more than simple story-telling as we know it to be. When we as writers create a character, no matter how much effort and time and work we put into it, we can never create anything that is any more than a shallow imitation of life. We could spend our whole life creating just one character, and it will never measure up to the depth and realism of an actual human. There is a saying that each person is the main character of their own story, something I will not disagree with. So imagine this. There are over seven billion stories in this world, each one featuring a main character and a rich supporting cast, each one unique in plot and style and genre. Not only this, but each story is interconnected with every other story that is, was, and will be. Then take a step back and realize that not only are all of these billions of stories interconnected, but they are woven together in such a way that they create a larger, meta-story that has been created for the sole purpose to bring its Creator glory. (You might say it seems egotistical, to create something just to bring you glory. But might I say, when we read a good book, we don't say "well done, Book, you told your story well." No, we give--as we should-- the praise to the one whose skill and effort made it the excellent work that it is. Why should this be any different?) It never ceases to blow my mind when I take the time to think about this, and I can say with confidence that this is one of the aspects of his personality I love the most.
Ironically, it is hard for me to express in words just how deeply rooted Story is in my soul, but I hope that these few lines were adequate in giving at least a glimpse into my views on the matter

  


Meghan, thanks for always being willing to go on crazy adventures with me and letting me take pictures of you!  I love you dearly!

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