I'm taking a creative writing class this term, and I am just falling back in love with stories. It's a bit weird though, because a large majority of writers use situations from their own lives to inspire stories. And so, trying to get into this habit, I have begun to look at my life as more of a story. It's good because it has actually made me appreciate the small stuff more, and to notice things that I wouldn't normally notice. Like how the grit of winter sounds like a pepper mill grinding beneath my boots or how the wind sometimes feels like it is biting through my skin like a hack saw. It's actually pretty cool, because you can take a small seemingly insignificant event and turn it into a beautiful story.I'm really glad that God created memory and imagination (the actual things, no Poe's book, though it's not too bad either) and that we are able to combine them into narratives that can span across cultures and peoples and reach the deep secret places that lie within out hearts. A lot of stories have universal feelings; we've all made mistakes, have loved or been loved, we've all been lost, all hurt and healed and felt happiness. Stories link us with a commonality, and that's why their so beautiful. Because despite our differences and despite all of the hardships we face and downright crappy things we go through, a book can make us feel that, at least for a while, we're not totally alone in that.
I think Jesus understood the power of the story because he spoke in so many parables. Some may argue that this was so that only those who wanted to understand him would, and I think this is true as well. But I also think that Jesus wanted us to have something or someone to identify with. Laws and rules and regulations have their place, but stories of experience speak to the heart as well as to the mind, and I think Jesus knew that.
Anyways, that's my tidbit on stories. As I begin to write more I'll post them on here and you guys can let me know what you think :)
peace through love,
Kait
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