Where Am I in the Story?

Psalm 139:16 “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Like the woman in this image, I’ve had moments pondering my place in this world, and I am struck by how all our stories intersect in the big book God wrote long before any of us were even born.

For starters, I think of my grandparents on both sides, how different they were. One set was Lutheran, settled in a very small Minnesota town, played cribbage, owned a bank and acted in community theater. The other couple was Catholic, lived in the heart of the Twin Cities, played championship bridge, and started an insurance agency. Somehow my dad came to Minneapolis and found my mom. They fell in love and started a dog kennel business that was briefly interrupted by my dad’s military service in World War II. Then my dad pioneered early television days with his own show, followed by collaborating with my mom to start a manufacturer’s rep business in outdoor lighting. Intersecting all of that were their siblings, cousins, friends, and all sorts of colossal twentieth century events like the Great Depression, the nuclear bomb, and the Cold War. Somewhere in there I showed up with my brother and sister, with all of us choosing very different paths and meeting our spouses in different states. Now we have our own families. grandchildren, more cousins, friends, occupations, and all sorts of colossal events of our own like the Vietnam War, the world-wide web, and COVID 19.

Whew!

Then I look at all the stories of people I meet–the lovely couple next door in our apartment building with a toddler, newborn, and two dogs, and soon moving. Next to them another young couple temporarily resides with their small children while their house undergoes major renovation. The people across the hall. are from India, and their beautiful daughter begins high school this month. Next to them a single woman has acquired a rescue dog.

Myriads of stories have swirled and twirled among the events of my own scenario. Moreover, all of them have mysteriously flowed in and out and through myriads of other’s timelines, sometimes even bumping into each other in unusual ways.

Then I think about God. How in the world does He keep track of us, even to the extent, Jesus said, of counting the hairs on each of our lovely little heads? I am beyond amazed, and then I ponder again and realize that we have all resided in a magnificent overarching story that He has written, a Love story of a God who is involved in all the details and seeks to be known within a mutual love relationship with every human who has ever existed or ever will exist.

Whew, again!

Even more mind boggling is the fact that He invites us to coauthor our own stories. We live moment by moment according to His providence and our privilege to choose the scenes, other characters, and actions that comprise the ongoing plot of our time on earth.

So as I stand and wonder where I fit in, my mind melts into gratitude, because God put me here, wrote me into the plot, chose me to be part of it all, and designed a specific purpose for me in His story. All I need to do is say, “Thank you,” and give Him my best effort to live it as fully as possible.

The rest is up to Him. My story is a gift, and I am at peace.