Plot, Subplot

by Sharon Swing, Co-Author of Listen to My Life

Maybe you’ve experienced reading a book, having your mind drift, and losing the handle on the storyline? Flipping back some pages, you might have to find the place where you absent-mindedly left the story to make sense of where the plot is going.

Have you ever lost the handle on the story of your life?

If you consider your life as a story, “What’s the plot?”

Sometimes it might be difficult for a lead character in the story to track their own storyline. Busy with just living, we can fail to notice how the events connect in to subplots, let alone the main plot or themes of the story.

Often, people talk about the plot of their lives as a series of events stretched across a timeline that reads more like a resume than a story with a strong plot. At times the thread that ties those events together is evident, and other times seemingly invisible, or random. But, are those events the plot of the story, or the subplots?

Let me announce to you that the plot of your life is knowable, discoverable, and freeing. The plot can be summed up like this:

Loving God; Loving People

All of our life story plots converge in this statement -- simple, yet beautifully multifaceted.

Subplots converge to tell the over-arching plot of a life story. This is where the uniqueness of our character, the circumstances, people and the places of our existence are woven into stories of triumph, tragedy, faithfulness, betrayal, fast action or stalled dreams. God is the one that holds the random subplot stories together and is weaving them together into the only plot that matters. In him and through him all things, including our subplots, are held together.

Yet, as co-authors of our life stories, we make choices to turn toward or turn away from our true selves, as God intended us to be. As we review our lives we can find the beauty of God’s expression through us, the ugliness of when we’ve turned away, and the ever-present themes of redemption – or hope of coming redemption for our life story plot and subplots.

God promises to use any and all subplots of our lives to draw us closer to him, expanding our capacity to trust him and love him. Joining the Master Author in the story as he arranges the redemption of all things that are not as they should be in our lives is what turns our mundane stories into great, wondrous adventures.

Your story is worth knowing and worth telling because it is a part of God’s Epic Story, which makes it part of our collective story. Together, we can live up to and into the only plot worth living; the one that leads us toward expanding our love for God people. Getting a handle on the storyline of your past will help you to make profound choices that impact the beauty, clarity, direction and outcome of the plot. Choices you make about your present and future determine if the main plot turns out to be inspiring, just plain boring, or something in between. Great stories often include a dramatic turn of events, against all odds comebacks, or the completion of a long obedience in the same direction.

Scripture:
God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love. Eph. 4:15-16 MSG

Question:
So, are you aware of how the subplots of your story are converging to tell an epic story of love, or have you lost the handle on the plot?

If you are interested in getting clarity on the plots and subplots of your life story, please consider using as a guide, “Listen To My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story” by Sibyl Towner and Sharon Swing.

Sharon Swing is an author, retreat leader, speaker, artist and consultant with interests in life story as a spiritual development tool, crafting experiences that give God space to do what he does best, art as a spiritual pathway, and change. With Sibyl Towner, she has co-authored Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story. For more information, visit www.oneLifemaps.com. She is an organization development consultant specializing in planning, meeting facilitation, leadership development and change management. For more information, visit www.swingconsulting.com.

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What Defines You?

by Joan Kelley, onelifemaps Facilitator
Related to the Following Forward Map and Reviewing My Days Map from Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story by Sibyl Towner and Sharon Swing.

Have you considered what defines you or who you let define you?

I was doing some reading today and thinking about what defines a person and perhaps what doesn't. I know for a fact cancer does not define my son, Will, or our family even though that's probably one of the top three facts someone would use to describe our family right now. I was introduced to someone I didn't know from our neighborhood the other day. She said "hmm...your name sounds familiar." I'm pretty sure I know why - it's because she had heard about a boy with the name Kelley who has cancer. But I'm not about to let leukemia be a defining portion of our family. At the Christmas service at church, there was a point where they had people share brief parts of their story. One I remember vividly was a woman saying, "Divorce does not define me!" Amen to that! I've seen how society can make a person feel that way.

So what does define you? I heard a good question the other day. It was something like "what word or phrase would you be willing to wear on a t-shirt 24/7 if it were meant to define you or say something about what you believe to be true?" There was a line of t-shirts that I loved that just said 'be' on the front. I liked this idea a lot. Be present, be hopeful, be a friend, be loved, be courageous. I think it boils down to being yourself. Be the person no one else can be and be settled and comfortable that this is enough. Be the person that God dreamed of when he made the stars and moon and sky. Be your true self, not what you think your parents want or your spouse or your friends or society wants. When we are being ourselves, we are a gift to others and not a burden. We waste less time, expend less emotional energy, and our decisions are easier because our outer actions match our inner being. But when we find our true selves, we need to learn to be settled and comfortable enough with that person to celebrate the uniqueness and grow into it in a richer, fuller way of living the days we have been given. I wonder if we be courageous enough to let 'being' define each of us.

Scripture: "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:14-16

Question: What word or phrase would you choose for your t-shirt?

Joan Kelley is a facilitator and teacher who uses the Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story, a visual workbook for small groups, mentoring relationships, workshops, retreats, classes, between spiritual friends, or individually to re-discover the storyline of the life they are authoring with God. More information is available at www.onelifemaps.com. Joan writes a daily blog at www.caringbridge.org/visit/willkelley.

Mosette Syndrome

by Anita Schamber, onelifemaps Facilitator
Related to the Following Forward Maps from Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story by Sibyl Towner and Sharon Swing.

If you are like me, "self-doubt" has crept in on little cat feet into one or more of your decisions during your life so far. On those occasions when God or His appointees presented you with an opportunity to serve, you may have questioned, "Who me? You want me to do what? I don't think I can do that. Ask someone else."

For as long as I can remember, I've heard a chorus of comments about inadequacy, and I have named this state of being as the "Mosette Syndrome" (or Moses Syndrome for men). Moses used a long list of objections or excuses for not accepting the "divine appointment" to lead the Israelities out of Egypt, to which God called him. Some of the excuses Moses used are the same as ours: I'm not worthy. I don't know enough. I'm afraid of what others will think. I'm not a good speaker. Let somebody else do it.

Like a wise Father, God addressed each of Moses' concerns and reassured him of His presence and specific provisions for the most challenging call on Moses' life.

As we reflect upon our own life stories, we may discover times when we were like Moses and refused to answer a call from God because of feelings of inadequacy. As someone has said, "God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called." I found that adage to be true when I was called to conduct a funeral for an unchurched family, to build a support system around a homeless woman, and to enter many cultures to develop leaders for World Vision. What I learned as I have grown in faith is to trust the Caller regardless of my insecurities.

A second characteristic of the the syndrome typifies Moses' impulsive and irrational behavior. All of us, at times, can have a habit of acting impulsively - outside of God's plan. When God intervenes, we then have to step back, listen, and be obedient in redirecting our steps. I have been this kind of Moses many times as I moved forward under my own initiative only to see that God had a BETTER plan than I. What these experiences have taught me is that if I follow forward in faith keeping my eyes on God, I can trust His leading and provision.

Anita Schamber is a facilitator and teacher using the Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story, a visual workbook for small groups, mentoring relationships, workshops, retreats, classes, between spiritual friends, or individually to re-discover the storyline of the life they are authoring with God. More information is available at http://www.onelifemaps.com/