What are the stories you tell yourself about money, your life and God? We are creatures created for sole purpose transformation, and yet we have this inner need to find some stability to which we can cling. Unfortunately, for most of us this takes the form of holding on to narratives about our lives and ourselves that are no longer serving us well. Inevitably either for our benefit or detriment, our experiences are radically shaped by the stories we tell ourselves. These deep-seated beliefs that we carry with us in every moment are not necessarily the “truth” about us, but they become our reality.
The funny thing about “our stories” is that typically the ones we are most bound to are the negative ones. Because of the tendency for life to be self-preserving and our instinct to protect ourselves we have been given a memory: physical, emotional and mental. This function performs a very important role. If we were unable to hold memories of past experiences we would never learn the lessons we need to survive in this world. We would keep making the same mistakes over and over again. But it is important for us to be able to differentiate between the memories or stories that are truly life-preserving and the ones that are more of a way in which we condition our minds not to change.
The human mind has the ability to treat even events in our lives that while painful are not life threatening as if these events are memories that we have to store in order to preserve our lives. Have you ever met someone who is deeply attached to something that they do not want in their lives? They claim “my illness,” “my divorce,” “my debt,” or whatever their challenge is with such vigor it becomes part of their identity. These narratives play over and over in our minds until they block our ability to hear or see much of what is going on around us.
The funny thing about our narratives is that for most of us we are:
1) Unconscious of our stories,
2) Unaware of how radically they impact every one of our thoughts, words and deeds,
3) Identified with our stories to the point that we allow them to become the boundaries which limit our ability to live.
When we remain stuck within our story, we block the ability of the Divine to transform our lives. Investing in a “story” keeps us bound to the past. God is constantly revealing more of God’s self to us, which means that what we knew yesterday is not enough for us to live fully today. The life of the Christ taught us that the key to salvation is to surrender to God. It is impossible for us to do that when we choose the story over the possibility.
It seems much easier to invest our time and energy in our stories than to step into the unknown and actually to try to learn something new about ourselves. But you will find that if you are conscious, it takes an extraordinary amount of energy to cling desperately to our story.
Our stories are an attempt to find stability in a changing world. We must learn to cling to, not our story, but God’s story in every experience. When we can shift our focus to what God was doing in the situation, we can find the wisdom that is worth clinging on to. Even in the most challenging situation, there is the possibility of seeing the power and presence of God and God’s good. (Genesis 50:20)
Are you willing to let go of your stories and allow yourself to become a part of God’s story, a vehicle for the expression of God’s transformational power in the world?
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