I love stories - in all their forms. Poetry. Songs. Novels. Nonfiction. Movies. Short stories. Musicals. Plays. Podcasts. Sit-coms. Documentaries. Memoirs. Biographies. Flash Fiction. Longreads. Comedians. Testimonies.
So how could I resist a book that talks about our own stories - our personal narratives - as a block to living the Life that is intended for each of us on an individual basis?
"God's work in your life is bigger than the story you'd like that life to tell. His life is bigger than your plans, goals, or fears. To save your life, you'll have to lay down your stories and, minute by minute, day by day, give your life back to him."
Wow! This hit me to the core of who I am and what I think and feel about my faith and about my life. It offered me an opportunity to think, quite deeply, about stories and the role they play for me.
"Faith isn't about getting God to play a more and more central part in your story. Faith is about sacrificing your story on his altar."
We all tell ourselves stories about what is happening in our life, and we love to hear about and participate in the stories of others. But the purpose of our narratives is connection and discovering truths, and then moving forward to something bigger and better.
This is a slim volume - a mere 78 pages. It took me just one afternoon to read it all and to begin to absorb a new way of looking at the trees (doctrine) that make up a forest (the Gospel). Published by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship (BYU), this book is on the up and up. Nothing tricky here...
I offer this with my highest recommendation for LDS readers who are looking to try their teeth on something sturdy and thought-provoking. Adam S. Miller has impressed me.
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