Live a Better Story

This morning while I was still in bed, Christian came into our room.  “Mom,” he said, “Is there anything I can do to help you out?”  Since I had my Moms Group this morning, I told him that actually it would be nice if he would straighten up in the dining room and just check to see how the kitchen was.

So he did.  And afterwards, he came and asked if there was anything else.  I have to be honest.  It caught me off guard.  Since Mother’s Day was Sunday and my whole family did a stellar job of helping out, I wasn’t really sure what made him stop to offer to help.

So I asked.

And his answer?

“I want to live a better story.”

Christian has always been an avid reader.  He’s long since poured through all of the main tween and teen books out there for his age group.  So ever so often, we give him things that are a bit more challenging.  A week or so ago, Jeremy bought him the book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller.  I’ve read parts of it and actually it’s one of Jeremy’s favorites.  I know enough about the book to know that one of the things that Donald Miller talks about is the idea that our lives are stories.  Some people tell bad stories with the choices that they make and others tell great ones.

Our son read this book and decided that he wanted to do things and make choices so that he would be telling a better story with his life.  I was blown away.  And it reminded me that just like our son, I too wanted to live a great story with my life.  I want to make choices each day that will contribute to living my life in the most beautiful and most full way.  Jesus gave us a heads up with this when He told us in John 10:10 that he came so that we might live life abundantly.  And then God laid it all out for us in Jeremiah 29:11 by telling us outright that he had good and prosperous plans for our lives and for our stories that would give us hope and a future.

Are you living a good story?  Are you making choices that contribute to living your life well?  I know for myself, I was encouraged to rethink through this today and thought I would put it out there to encourage others to think about it as well.