Inciting Incidents

I’m about half way through A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller (thanks for the recommendation, Brittney!).  In this book, Miller describes his journey of understanding that our lives are made up of stories; they have the same elements: expositions, inciting incidents, rising actions, climaxes, falling actions, and resolutions.  Some people live good stories, other people live boring stories (a bit confusing, but if you read the book, it will all make sense!).  Anyways, as I was walking back to my apartment this afternoon, I was thinking about all of the “inciting incidents” I’ve had in my life that forced me to change.  Just like in stories where something happens in a character’s life that forces him/her to leave home, change jobs, or make some kind of life-altering situation, God places inciting incidents in our lives to force us to change.  Here are some of the moments I came up with:

·         Not getting accepted to the college I planned on attending after high school which forced me to open my mind to Whitworth—amazing experience, but one I would not have chosen on my own

·         Not finding a teaching job in Spokane and having to sub for a year—I learned a lot about having back-up plans and living on my own

·         Not finding a job in the State of Washington and looking in Colorado—made great friends, got trained in IB, and learned a lot about relationships

·         Reaching an uncomfortable place with a friend and my job that made me investigate teaching abroad and brought me to Mexico—I’m learning so much more about relationships, Mexico, and I have the opportunity to visit the Rehema/InStep Orphanage in Kenya

·         Reaching a (many) breaking point(s) here in Mexico that made me decide not to return for a second year—not sure what the fall-out will be since this is current

All of these inciting incidences forced me to make a drastic change in my life.  Without these closed (and in some cases, SLAMMED) doors and as my mom puts it, “death of a vision’s”, I would not be living a very good story.  It’s the conflict in stories that makes them interesting and worth watching or reading.  The same is true with our lives.  Does this make my broken dreams any easier?  In hind-sight, yes because I can see God’s hand in it; while I’m in the midst of the conflict, heck no!  I just want my mommy!  But, it’s also comforting to know that I’m living a really good story! :)