What is your story??

Back east. The air is thicker which is strangely weird but my brother came home the other night from college and now the Lopat 6 is now complete!! (yes cheesy name) It has been so great to be home. I really missed everyone. The first day I was home I was all alone cause everyone was working or at school and I naively told my mom later that I was bored and now I have lists of things to do :) Oh the joys of family (I do love her!)
Before I came back east I finished a Bible study I was a part of. One of my bosses at camp and his wife and I were going through Storyline by Donald Miller. If you ever get the chance I HIGHLY recommend it. One of my good friends loves Donald Miller. I must say you will not be disappointed, convicted, but not disappointed.
You start off looking back at your life and all the positive and negative life turns that have shaped you. I would give a synopsis of the study and what we did but I think you should do it yourself and learn. But I took some notes on the end I can share :)
Every life is made up of stories. Many many stories. They are meant to be lived out with passion! Ever have a project that you are working on where you are just so excited to do it and see the finished result. When you finally finish you hold it up and just are so happy that you finished. I find it so much easier to do things if I want to. Well, of course that makes sense but what if you lived life like that? Like you just loved the story you were creating. That's what Donald Miller's goal is throughout the study. He wants you to realize how to live your stories with passion and heart in order to change live. (No pressure right?!?)
All great stories must come to an end though. I find that ending things is sometimes hard. Especially when it is a great story. Miller says that although stories must end we need to celebrate those endings. Like we celebrate graduations, new years, bachelor things as an end to singleness, and many others. But do we realize we need to celebrate the hard things to?? Like the end of a relationship, or a loved one dying. We need to celebrate the time we had with them and what we learned from certain hard situations. After celebrating comes the time to grieve and say goodbye to that story. After the grieving time is moving on. Being able to let go of that story and start planning the next one.
I am in the process of letting go of a story that needs to be let go of. It is hard but in order to start my next one with full passion and heart, I need to.
Christmas eve is kinda like my new years...a bit. My siblings and I started a tradition where we sleep under the Christmas tree. Now it has been just me the past few years but I have loved just sitting down here with my Bible and journal. Just reflecting on the year and talking to God. My next story with Axis begins really soon and I am super excited for it! But going along with the theme of my life, God has just continually just been teaching me to trust Him and learn to walk on water. That includes saying goodbye to past stories.
So as you have your own traditions for Christmas with family and friends, don't forget the reason for the season. :) Corny, yes, but also true. Begin your next story with gusto! And remember God is right there with you, along for the journey.
I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas as I sit and watch the snow fall (white Christmas!!!!) and a Happy new year! (that is if I don't get another post in before that)
Goodnight!