I have always had a knack for words. When I was in third grade I managed to win the school spelling be in an assembly in front of the entire school, beating out much older kids. I never really had to study much. I could spell words easily by the way they sounded, especially if I had read them a few times; I could see them in my mind's eye as I had read them. If I didn't know or wasn't sure, (or under stress, as we shall soon see) I would simply spell what I heard and I usually got it right. THe same process happened with facts; I was able to memorize the capital cities of most countries in the United States simply by associating the city names with the name of the country and reciting it a few times. Usually I could simply recall one from the other, seeing it in my mind's eye like I saw it in the book.
A double-edged sword, unfortunately.
Imagine my excitement when I got to the district competitions soon after my victory. I had heard vague stories and seen a few clips of the giant national spelling bees televised from Washington DC, and had vague visions of glory and awesomeness as I went to Washington DC and won the big 30 letter word in a buzzer shot....something like that. Who knows, my 9 year old mind had a lot of strange musings, if you couldn't tell from the first paragraph.
In any case, my unfortunate dreams were doomed by the selection of a lady with an accent as a word reader. "Twirl" on paper sounded like "Twarrel" in my mind's eye, and I was the first contestant disqualified. On a five-letter, monosyllabic word that even a moderately proficient 1st grader could spell.
You could imagine the horror. I sobbed quite a bit the next few days.
As I've grown older, however, my brain's workings have proven to come in handy. Our brain's intellectual processes are incredibly powerful. It has a capacity to understand and work through very difficult concepts. Words are powerful, in that they are symbols associated with ideas, concepts both abstract and concrete, relationships, and processes. Through the symbols of words, we can explore and navigate these concepts. We learn all higher processes and ideas through language, and not just your ordinary language: mathematics, music, computers and logic also employ a specific language that must be learned to be navigated. Because of language we can take ideas and dissemble them, separate them, and examine them bit by bit. We can also do the opposite. We can combine those ideas in different ways, exploring their intersections and drawing up a bigger picture of things as they are.
Which brings me to the point of my blog's title. Narratives are a broad A-Z of a story. They are the patterns of language used to describe, define, and guide the evolution of a concept. We all employ narratives: "Finding oneself" is merely another way of describing the process of constructing a narrative by which we live and define our lives. This is an integral process to any human life, if it is to advance beyond mere instinct.
I find that as I've journeyed in my life, the patterns that hold sway in humanity often hold sway in the Divine. God, as the epitome of what humanity can become, operates by the same principles, albeit in a perfected form. He has created a narrative for Himself that governs the way He approaches life, both His own and ours. It would take much more than a blog post to show what that Divine narrative is, but let me suffice it to say that the way I have experienced God has shown me that He has constructed a narrative within the boundaries of several powerful concepts: Hope, faith, justice and mercy are just a few that come to mind. These, with their intricate relationships to each other, are among His foundational principles (one could also comfortably use the words "concepts" or "morals" in this spot) and are all balanced on one key principle: love.
God's plan for us, as His children, involved us coming to Earth to experience life. We each have been given a life, and been given a responsibility to make something of that life. He has also revealed enough of His divine narrative for us to know how to construct our own. He loves us individually. He desires for us to succeed. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He yearns to grant us the power to become like He is. Life is the perfect place for us to learn how to construct that narrative. Life is a teacher. As we stumble along trying to find our guiding narrative, it grants us to experience sorrow, pain, and difficulty, sometimes terrible; these experiences, whether tailored specifically by Him or merely the natural consequence of living in a dark world full of pain, can be utilized to show us and strengthen us in understanding where to go, what to do, and how to live. When we allow God's narrative of love to inform and define our own, those experiences both joyous and painful become powerful, empowering forces. Through His teaching and guidance, we can anchor ourselves and turn from being seeds floating white on the wind, to powerful trees woven together, capable of withstanding near any force. Life's experiences can become a blessing to us, tools within a toolbelt, stars within a galaxy, concepts within a narrative anchored to Him.
And so that is what I desire to express through this blog. To show you how I have set about my life's purpose of constructing that narrative. I want to show you how God has manifested His hand in that process. It is my goal to show you deeply. You will know. You will know my struggles, my weaknesses, my successes and my strengths intimately. You will be offered a window onto the world I live. I hope that I can have the honesty necessary to fulfil that goal. It is also my hope that by writing this, that those of you within reach of my writing will be blessed to find greater strength and faith in God through my words as you do the difficult but crucial work of crafting your own narratives.
As Paul stated:
"9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which is
given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and
another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon." (1 Corinthians 3:9-10)
I welcome respectful discussion of the ideas I present. I am often wrong. I value and affirm honest, rigorous discussion, because it helps me to see and know better, especially from others' perspectives.. If you see fit to comment, even if it is in disagreement, please do so and know that you will find a soft landing place. But, please, be good humans and be kind as I will be kind. :)
It is now 3 in the morning, and I ought to be go do something I should have done four hours ago.
Sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment