On a recent trip, I bought an audio book to listen to while I drove. I got very interested in the book, but eventually made it home and had to stop listening. I headed to the sewing room yesterday and decided to continue listening to the book. Unfortunately, iTunes had not kept track of where I was at in the book and I was left to try to figure it out. I started close to where I thought I had left off, but it didn’t make sense. It seems that I missed part of the story. Life is like that too.
From the time we are born, our story is being written. The other people that we encounter become the characters, our circumstances become the background, and both the decisions that we make and the decisions that others make create the drama. What I have found is that sometimes when we don’t know the previous chapters in someone’s story, we don’t understand where they are at now. If we knew that one of the chapters in someone’s book included abuse, could we understand why the part of the story that we see involves distrust? If we knew that one of the chapters in someone’s book included burying someone that they loved more than anyone else in the world, could we understand why sometimes there are tearstains on their pages? If we knew that someone’s story had falling in love, could we understand why their pages weren’t written with a jaded and cynical pen?
Everyone’s story is different and how it continues is affected by previous chapters. It is important to remember that for everyone we meet, we become part of their story. The challenge is to be the character that will create a storyline of love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. That can make the next chapter so much better.
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