What is story?

I've got an idea rolling around in my head.

What is story? Yes, I have pat answers that just leap out of my head when I ask the question, but I think there is more to story than my pat answers. Story is certainly about what we want. It's about who we are. Stories also offer information about how to thrive where we dwell. Yes, stories have profound things to tell us about how we are going to get out bed tomorrow when a tsunami of grief has washed over us in the night. Stories help us through the valley of the shadow of death.

Stories have ancient rhythms, and they thrum within me. Who knows how many campfires men sat around before someone came up the with technology of writing to store stories on paper instead of in flawed earthen vessels? It's really true that stories don't need words. Meaningful stories can be told in the silences. Story is also a way to share our journeys of survival, our struggles with faith, our dances with hope.

I, for one, am hungry for stories. I love the rhythms in stories. I love the sense of joy and tragedy in stories. I love to meet interesting characters that somehow teach me something about myself. I love a satisfying ending. My inspiring advice for today is to step away from the words and just let a story play out in your heart. Feel the beginning, middle, and end. Let it all wash over you, through you. Then and only then try to capture the thing with your words.

Were you surprised?

Here is my doodle for the day. It's called "Shepherd".



There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou