Living a Better Story

Just finished the newest Donald Miller book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and I was once again reminded why I love his work. Honestly I've probably only read 50 books, strike that, 25 books since I've entered adulthood. I can probably list all of them right now but I won't. Now that I think of it maybe 25 is too high as well, but we'll go with that. 


If you asked me why I like his writing so much I'm not sure I'd have an answer. Not one that would make you go out and buy any of his work at least. I love his simplicity. I love that he writes short thoughts/chapters. I love that he uses simple language. I just love that he is real. He doesn't try to act perfect or fake. I know he has struggles with the Christian walk because he shares them. He shares his doubts. He's not a very great role model, in my opinion, but I can relate to his faith journey. 


I'll leave you with some of my favorite quotes from this book, "When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are." 


And also, "If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another. "


And lastly, "Sometimes when I watch my dog, I think about how good life can be, if we only lose ourselves in our stories. Lucy doesn't read self-help books about how to be a do; she just IS a dog. All she wants to do is chase ducks and sticks and do other things that make both her and me happy. It makes me wonder if that was the intention for man, to chase sticks and ducks, to name animals, to create families, and to keep looking back at God to feed off his pleasure at our pleasure."