I just read a great book – a book that I have heard about but never picked up until friends in Australia gave it to me while I was there – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller.
They told me that it was because of this book that they were getting married and going to England for a year of training right after their honeymoon. Wow, that’s a big effect from a book. Once I got back home, Leigh and I wrestled over the book for 3 days to try to finish it first.
The subtitle is, What I Learned While Editing My Life. This, to me, is the real title. It’s about what makes a great story…with your life. Here are a few excerpts.
“I found myself wanting even better stories. And that’s the thing you’ll realize when you organize your life into the structure of story. You’ll get a taste for one story and then want another, and then another, and the stories will build until you’re living a kind of epic of risk and reward, and the whole think will be molding you into the actual character whose roles you’ve been playing. And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”
I think this describes the discontent we all feel with routine, ordinary, traditional life and the desire we have for more.
“A story is made up of turns, Robert McKee says. Once an ambition has been decided, a positive turn is an event that moves the protagonist closer to the ambition, and a negative turn move the protagonist away from his ambition. All stories have both. If a story doesn’t have negative turns, it’s not an interesting story. A protagonist who understands this idea lives a better story. He doesn’t give up when he encounters a setback, because he knows that every story has both positive and negative turns.”
Our reaction to circumstances will change as we desire to live a “good story” and understand that “negative turns” make your story even better.
“It’s true that while ambition creates fear, it also creates the story. But it’s a good trade, because as soon as you point toward a horizon, life no longer feels meaningless. And suddenly there is risk in your story and a question about whether you’ll make it. You have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”
Finding and pursuing our true ambition, our greatest desire will make our life a “great story”.
Let’s live a great story together…starting this summer.
Gary
Gary, I just read this book a couple months ago and absolutely LOVED it! I think I drove my husband and friends crazy talking about it all the time. I have to remind myself frequently that my life would be unmentionable if it didn’t have the challanges and obstacles it does. And that a new name is given to those who OVERCOME.
I love these eLetters. They anchor me when my soul is adrift. They inspire and awaken instrumentation in me that aliens me back to True North.
This is a great story indeed.
Jeff
Gary — my story has had so many seemingly ‘negative’ turns lately that I feel like Sea Biscuit, the race horse — “been going in circles so much, he’s forgotten how to be a horse.”
It’s also been my experience that the enemy will whisper: “You’re alone with your story. No one else experiences this. You’re all alone.”
Thanks for another great post. Others’ stories are so helpful.
Thanks for challenging me in my own story Gary. I love the book as well. If you haven’t read it you need to now. I am still wrestling with parts of it. Nothing is as important as living a larger story with God. Love what you do!
Hi Gary. I’m glad to see you’re blogging again… it’s been a while. And, while I don’t usually post responses (since I read your e-letters), I always look forward to your words and thoughts.
Its funny you mention this book… I (literally yesterday) was thinking about this…. I went to Amazon and read the first chapter online.
I first heard Don Miller talk about STORY (preparing for this book) when he spoke at a church nearby. (I have an MP3 of it here -> http://drop.io/misc_mp3). Really good (and for anyone that hasn’t read the book… its nice to hear the author speak first… gives you a cadence/insight into his writing.)
Anyway…. the concept of Story is HUGE. Two things jumped out at me as soon as I began to read… First, in the “Dedications” Miller writes, “And to you Jim Chaffee [thank you], for shoving me out the door to tell it [my story]” Secondly, the line, “The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.” I want to live in a great story. And, I want others in it with me. (We all need shoves out the door from time to time!) This book will require some space to let God speak.
So… while I was most likely going to get the book… now you’ve pushed me over the edge — I now HAVE to get the book.
By the way… Miller is having a contest for a free trip to a seminar he’s doing — http://donmilleris.com/2010/07/15/win-a-trip-for-two-to-portland-for-the-living-a-better-story-seminar/. You should enter. I’ll be entering.
Enjoying the twists and turns of my journey,
Mark
I’m getting the book today. Cindy and I are in the planning stages of a new adventure, it is scary and exciting. It sounds like this would encourage us to press forward.
Fantastic video Gary! It’s so helpful to learn what other people are doing that helps them become successful. For me, it’s getting out in the forest and walking, every week.
Of course, every time I’m in CO (in a few weeks!) I’ll be back with God in the mountains for a day-climb.