It's hard to believe that Storyline Conference was over a month ago. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in a sanctuary with over 2000 like-minded people, eagerly awaiting the wise words of Donald Miller, Shauna Niequist, and Bob Goff. This experience was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I couldn't take enough notes, listen hard enough, or reflect long enough. There was an overwhelming amount packed into two days. I learned more than I ever imagined I would - which is why it has taken me this long to post about. The past few weeks, I struggled to complete coherent thoughts in my writing because my brain was in a desperate search for the right words. I scrambled to get all of my thoughts in writing before I forgot them. It was a battle I lost many times. After writing and rewriting ideas for weeks, I am excited to finally be sharing this with you. While what you are about to read does not even come close to covering all that I learned during my time there, I feel these ten lessons can be applied to everyone. Lesson One: Great characters know what they want. If you take a look at your favorite movie, you can easily see how true this is. Think of your favorite character for a moment. I can bet that the entire movie is based on them overcoming obstacles to get what they want. Am I right? We all know the trajectory of the movie, even before it has started. It's how most great movies are. It’s clear and concise, even if the obstacles are intricate, and it keeps us engaged. We are drawn to movies like this because it makes sense. The character's life makes sense because it is building up to something: attaining what he wants, what he has been working for. I believe we all look for the climax in our own lives. But, if we don't know what we want, how can we be working toward that? Life makes more sense when we are working toward a goal. It's time we figure out what we want, set goals for ourselves, and pursue them. This world needs more great characters. Lesson Two: Characters are meant to change. Did you realize, as you were thinking of your favorite movie character, that as the movie progresses the main character also changes and develops? We too are designed to transform. This is not some made up idea that just happens to take place in 100% of all great movies; it is inspired by real life. Every single one of us transformed from a single cell to a body made up of trillions of cells. Every day our bodies are physically, and emotionally, transforming. If you think you would be happy being the person you are today for the rest of your life, you are missing the whole point. Your life is meant to be lived like a story, where you, as the main character, are transforming into the person you are meant to become. Allowing ourselves to fall into the mindset of complacency with our current characters, is to hinder the growth and transformation we were made for. Lesson Three: Change comes through conflict. Here's the catch: in order to transform and change, we have to go through conflict. That’s life my friends. Every single person on this earth deals with conflict; you are not alone in that. Our conflicts will never be exactly the same and we will never fully understand each other's problems, but it is conflict just the same. It causes pain, anxiety, depression, shame. While our troubles may be different, the result is always change. Admittedly, we change in different ways. Some change for the better, but some change for the worse. It all depends how we handle the conflict. But let us not shy away from transforming into great characters because we know we must face obstacles to get there. When we see conflict in a positive light, we allow for positive transformation to take place. Lesson Four: Heroes and villains have a lot in common. That's surprising, isn't it? Heroes and villains seem to be polar opposites. However, when we consider what these characters have been through, we begin to see why this is true. What makes them similar is that both of them had a painful experience in the past. What makes them different, however, is the way they changed in response to that experience. Heroes overcome the trauma. They have a redemptive perspective, which allows them to see how much they've learned, grown, and developed from the pain. Villains never fully overcome the trauma. Instead, they seek revenge and try to hurt people the way they have been. I bet you'll see it now when you watch your next movie. Lesson Five: Walk alongside, don't push. It felt like this lesson was spoken directly to me. Each sentence hit me straight in the heart. I watched as these two brothers acted out what it feels like to have someone constantly trying to get you out of your problems. The person being pushed got defensive, the pusher got frustrated, and neither of them got anywhere. I was convicted. I am that person. I always feel like I have to fix whatever a friend is dealing with because it hurts me to see them hurting. But without walking alongside, trying to understand the situation, and simply providing the encouragement needed to take the next steps, I will never be able to provide the real help they need. We need someone to walk with us through the journey, not someone trying to force us to be where they want us. Lesson Six: Your ruler is only getting shorter. On the last day of the conference, we were given a paper ruler. During one of the sessions, we were told to flip to the centimeter side and tear off from the beginning of the ruler all the way up to our age. Off went 21 centimeters, representing my past, thrown over my shoulder, never to be thought about. Then we were told to predict the age at which we would die. I chose 87 - I was feeling hopeful. Off went the rest of the ruler, from 87 to the end, representing the time I don't have in life, thrown over the chair in front of me, not to be considered. What was left was a short piece of ruler, from 21cm to 87cm. As I held up this ruler in front of me, my heart sunk. When you look at your life tangibly like that, it makes you realize how little time you really have left. I keep that ruler in my journal so I can see it everyday and be reminded that my time here is fleeting. Lesson Seven: We are co-authors of our stories. I loved this. I think most of us put pressure on ourselves to make our lives great. We feel that it is up to us to do everything, to take control, because it's our life and we are the only ones that can get us where we want to be. But when we remember that we aren't alone, that we don't have to do this on our own, that there is someone else guiding us, life seems a bit less scary. God crafted each of us with unique skills and abilities for a purpose. He gave us passions for a reason. Storyline challenged us to see our lives as though God gave us a blank page, asked us what we want our lives to look like based on our passions, and is now guiding our hands as we write our story. I thought this was a beautiful picture of free will. God seems more like a mentor, rather than a dictator telling us what we need to do. We have a say in the way our stories are written, God just wants to help. Lesson Eight: The person you are today doesn't have to be the person you are tomorrow. This was one of the very first things they told us. They knew we were there with the idea in the back of our minds that conferences are only a temporary fix. You know what I’m talking about. That 'post Christian summer camp' feel. We are on a high for a few weeks (if we’re lucky), but we eventually fall back into reality. We allow our mindset to go back to the way it was before that camp, class, conference, etc. What they desperately wanted us to understand was that it doesn’t have to be like that. We didn’t have to walk out of that conference Friday evening the same person we were when we walked in Thursday morning. In fact, they wanted nothing more than for change to begin right then and there. They understood that change starts with a commitment to doing what it takes to change. If they could get us to take that step, to see how important it is to commit to our goals, they knew change would happen. I have no doubt in my mind that people changed over those two days. Lesson Nine: It's not crazy to chase your dreams. This was literally posted everywhere at this conference: on the canvas bags we received when we walked in, on the binders we were given, in our workbook, on signs posted throughout the church. I couldn’t escape it. I had a really hard time believing it. Chasing dreams is deemed irresponsible - especially my own. I feel like I am looked at as though I have four heads when I say that I am going to chase my dream one day, as if I am a six year old talking about wanting to become a firefighting astronaut when I grow up. I fought this phrase for the majority of the conference because of this. But I realized, after reflecting more, that having these dreams is a blessing. I am discontent with the way I am living my life because I was made to be doing something greater, something more life-giving, empowering, and meaningful with the time I have on this earth. What I once thought to be a burden, I now see as a blessing, as a responsibility to do what I have been set aside for. And while it sounds quite lofty to be saying all of this, to be saying that I wholeheartedly have to chase my dreams, I write it mainly to be held accountable for taking the necessary steps toward the overarching goal of my life. Lesson Ten: Just love people. My favorite lesson of all. Storyline gave us a Life Plan to fill out while we were in Chicago. The end of the Life Plan asked us questions about the person we hope to be when we are 75. I realized, after writing all of my answers out, that the underlying theme of my life was that I wanted to love people. I’ve come to believe over the years that love is one of the most powerful gifts from God. When we accept people for who they are, not look down on them for who they were or for the mistakes they have made, we are loving them in a life-changing way. When people feel loved and accepted, they no longer feel the need to hide the dark parts of their lives. They are willing to talk about the hard things and, in doing so, begin to process and heal from past hurt, ultimately causing their hearts to change. Love changes people. If there is anything I would want you to take away from this post, it's that. As you can tell, there was a lot of truth, challenge, and vulnerability at this conference. It is hard to say that it was life-changing, because I think that is an incredibly bold statement. But I can say that the ways I have been challenged have made me think even more than I did before and, the more I thought, the more I realized how excited I am to be transforming, to be overcoming challenges, and to be chasing dreams I once thought were unattainable. To Storyline I say thank you, thank you for helping me end my 21st year of life with an exceptionally positive outlook for what is to come. "And then there is the most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending your life not pursuing your dreams on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."
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December 2016
AuthorTara | 22 | Gordon College '15 Categories |