N.C. Wyeth (one of my favorite artists of children's literature)
Rousing tales of heroes saving damsels in distress, romantic tales of valor and sacrifice, or heart warming stories of family, home, children, history---I just love a good story. All of my life, I have been able to lose myself in captivating stories. And when I would read a heart moving tale, I would dream of living a story worth telling.
Scripture is full of dramatic stories of bravery (David and Goliath), romance, (Ruth and Boaz), courage (Moses stepping into the Red Sea with a couple of million children, animals, adults chasing screaming behind him being chased by the strongest army ever known), and more.
Each of us is living a story. Each of us can make decisions that will place us into the Lord's hands to accomplish His own stories through us in our lifetime. Maybe your story doesn't feel exciting at this moment or strategic in light of history. But most of the people who were recorded as heroes of the faith, were normal people amidst normal life circumstances, who trusted God even when the others surrounding them were naysayers and could not see Him.
The story that will be told about you in the future depends on the story you are living today.
In other words, the truth is, the story you are choosing to live today--whether it requires excellence morally, courage to endure, faith to believe, or love to overcome, will become your integrity or lack of integrity tomorrow. You cannot have a story of faithfulness in your future or with your children or grandchildren--tales of faithfulness and courage and moral character and discipline and sacrifice that made a difference in your own family history--unless you are living that story with faith, moral excellence, self-discipline, sacrificial love today.
To live a story worth telling, you must reject the voices of the world that shout so loudly in your head, and you must choose to live in holiness to please an audience of one.
All of us love to hear great stories.
Your children long to see you as their heroes
. They will love to tell your story to their own children someday. So choose today to live the story that you want to be told about you in the future.
Meanwhile, I am off to live my story.