thoughts on miller’s ‘million miles’
I began reading Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years last week. Lauren and I recently had the opportunity to go hear him speak at the University of Waterloo, so I already had a bit of an idea of what to expect. I am enjoying it, and wanted to share a few key bits that have stood out to me so far.
The basic premise of the book is that Miller was approached by some filmmakers to create a movie out of his popular memoir, Blue Like Jazz. Upon discovering that the story of his life was slightly less than silver screen worthy, the filmmakers decide to begin to take some liberties with his life story in order to make it more compelling. Somewhat put off by the reality that his life may not be an inspiring tale, Miller begins to examine the elements of what makes a good story and attempts to apply them to his life in order to create a better story out of it.
Miller writes about how stories that revolves around attaining something is really quite boring and meaningless. Instead, at the heart of any good story - and therefore life in general - is character transformation. Perhaps, he writes, “we were designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us.” For so long, Miller strove to be a popular author, yet felt unfulfilled when he was able to achieve that goal. In the same way we are unmoved by the story of someone who wants to buy a car, saves up their money and one day purchases said car, any story that does not involve some sort of positive and meaningful character progression will always be less than what it is intended to be.
What was really challenging to me was the idea that a character is what he does. While it is possible to think and feel certain things, the essence of our true character is revealed by what we do. For example, there are many elements of following Jesus that I know to be good and right, and I may feel as though I am the kind of person that can and should do these things. But, if I do not actually live in a way that reflects the teachings and mission of Jesus, then I am not really his disciple.
If I believe that the essence of a good story is drawn out from the wider narrative of God’s redemptive love in, to and for the world, and if God is calling us to reflect the essence of that story by how we live in the world around us, then it is through tangible actions that it can be determined whether or not I am a contributing character within that story.
I look forward to digging into the rest of this book, and will post some more thoughts alone the way.
