A Storied Future

Over the last year, my journey has been influenced by a number of texts that I now realize all have a storied future theme. This post demonstrates - maybe annoyingly so - that my reading has been saturated by a series of books that, some would say, are a radical interpretation of Jesus' life, the story of the Kingdom of God on earth, and how our lives should become a part of this continuing story. In my mind, all this study has culminated in and prepared me for a Power of Full Engagement Course that I participated in this week.

What are these texts and what do they have to say about stories?

In Appreciative Living; The Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Personal Life, Jacquelin Bascobert Kelm taught me a bit about the Anticipatory Principle. This principle suggest that the images we create in our minds about the future guide our present action and create that very future. As further explained by Copperridder and Whitney:

One of the basic theorems of the anticipatory view of organizational life is that it is the image of the future, which in fact guides what might be called the current behavior of any organism or organization. Much like a movie projector on a screen, human systems are forever projecting ahead of themselves a horizon of expectation (in their talk in hallways, in the metaphors and language they use) that brings the future powerfully into the present as a mobilizing agent.

In Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, Brian McLaren spoke about our framing stories. By this he means the stories that give people direction, values, and inspiration by providing a framework for their lives. It tells them who they are, where they come from, where they are, what's going on, where things are going, and what they should do.

The Power of Full Engagement course introduced me to The Power of Story: Rewrite Your Destiny in Business and in Life, by "story," Jim Loehr means those tales we create and tell ourselves and others, and which form the only reality we will ever know in this life. Our stories may or may not conform to the real world. They may or may not inspire us to take hope-filled action to better our lives.

So, this weekend my homework was to write My New Story. According to the course material my new story is to describe who I must become to achieve mission success in my life. It should communicate where I need to go in life to complete my ultimate mission. I took this assignment seriously and crafted a story that I believe will inspire me to take hope-filled action. If there was a grade, then some points would be deducted because my story is less about my ultimate mission and more about the kingdom of God on earth.

My new story is founded on the belief that the way to make our world a better place is to believe in and be active participants in a different story, the story of the kingdom of God on earth. This story incorporates many of the lessons learned while reading Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals. In it Shane Claiborne speaks about the need for a new language. As the apostle James writes, the way we speak controls our lives. In the same way that you are what you eat, it's true that you are what you say. Our language changes the way we view the world. In my life, I hope to change the language of conversion. Conversion should reflect the best sense of the word - a people who are marked by the renewing of their minds and imaginations, who no longer conform to the pattern that is destroying the world. Otherwise I would only be a believer, not a covert. And believers are a dime a dozen nowadays. What the world needs is people who believe so much in another world that they cannot help but to enact it. My plan is to be a convert.

With this new story written, the path is clearer, but each step on the journey lies ahead and each step must be guided.

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart a man plans his course,

but the Lord determines his steps.