Time to Reflect and Dream

I don’t know where I am.  

I’m in the middle of a town that I don’t know the name of - at a random Starbucks somewhere near San Diego - but if you took my phone away, I’d be completely lost. 

I have no agenda today.  I’m gonna get a tour of San Diego a little bit later, but this morning - nothing.  I know nobody here.  I am sort of a fly in the wall.  I’m an extra in the lives of random people in Southern California. 

I’m spending my morning reflecting on the conference I just attended.  It was an inspiring and “kick in the butt” type conference.  At least, for me it was.  

The conference kind of told me what I already know:  I don’t know where I am.

Or maybe, “I don’t know where I’m going” would be a better way of putting it.  

I definitely choose stories with meaningless ambitions.  Somehow, in my past, I was swept up into the incredible story of the gospel.  Had I not lucked out on that - I wonder how my life would have turned out?  Because without the gospel, I’d just chase one selfish ambition after the next.  I do that WITH the gospel - how much more without?

Much of what I learned this past weekend were things that I already knew, but couldn’t put my finger on.  For example, here’s some of the basics of story:

A good story is clear.  A character is known for what they do, not what they think. (Love Does!)  There’s no good story without conflict.  Great characters engage conflict.  The only way a character can change in a story is through conflict.  Great characters go through transformation.  Great characters live stories where many lives are saved.

There was much more, but that’s pretty much the basics.  Common sense stuff.  But one of the challenging questions of the conference was:  

What kind of story are you telling with your life?

Another was: 

What would the world miss if you didn’t tell your story?

I find that I often choose boring and meaningless stories.  hmmm. 

None of these ideas made me feel guilty - not even close!  It was more - wow - I settle for less than I know I can get in life.  Not that I’m trying to “get” anything - but I settle for a good - or ok - life instead of the very best life that I'm wired to live.  I settle.

A woman that worked with elderly people who were nearing death's door wrote a book about her experience.  I wish I had written the name of the book down, but I didn’t.  I just wrote the list:

The top 5 regrets of the dying:

1. They ignored their dreams
2. They worked too much
3. They didn’t say what they really thought
4. They wished they had more friends
5. They wished they had chosen to be more happy.

I hope to live life without these regrets.  But I need to start living a better story if that's to happen.  

Well - here's to challenges!  Time to reflect and dream...

May we learn to live better stories with our lives!!

Jer