05: The Power of Owning Our Stories

There comes a moment in every life when that person realizes that they can do and be literally anything they want. For some, this revelation is empowering. This is what drives kids who grow up in ghettos become world renowned neurosurgeons, how people go from being bankrupt to being millionaires, and why a handful of people leave the comforts and privilege of North America to go overseas and end up adopting half a dozen orphaned children. Those people know that they only get one shot at this earth, and they are hungry to make use of every breath and movement. But for others, this revelation is terrifying. It is what keeps people from publishing bestsellers, from auditioning for their first acting gig, from going on that blind date, from applying for a master’s degree. The ability to do anything and the limitation that they can only do so much robs the lungs of air and paralyzes, halting any movement at all. But there it is, out in the open: the truth that we can do and be anything. We have the power to change the planet for the better, just as we have the power to destroy it. And like Uncle Ben Parker says, with great power comes great responsibility.

I had to get real about my life, past, present, and future. All of the awkward pieces, all of the growing pains, all of the secret hopes and aspirations. I knew that in order to affect the trajectory of my life, I had to pause for a moment and look around at what I had been given by God: a story. But not just any story -- the most radically perfect love story of all time, written specifically for me, so that I might learn what it is to be perfectly myself in the tiny expanse of time and space I’m given on this earth.

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The conversation starts here: 

Which group of people do you see yourself belonging to? Does freedom empower or terrify you?

If you find yourself in the first group, what are you drawing inspiration from? If you find yourself in the second group, what do you sense is holding you back?

{Leave your questions + answers + thoughts in the comments below.}

Some Fine Print:

This is the fifth of thirty-one installments to be posted throughout the month of October. To view the entire table of contents as it is made available, click here. You can receive the entire series in your inbox for free by subscribing via email (no spam, just my heart by way of weblog). Please feel free to pass these words along to a friend. Sharing is caring!