Which story do you live for?

On Thursday 21 June, we published Long Story Short by Andy Frost.

His book considers three narratives that we use to shape the trajectory of our lives. Do we live for our own happiness, our own personal safety, or recognition and success, the mark we leave on the world?

We ran a poll on Twitter and asked our followers which narrative they use to shape their lives. Overwhelmingly, the choice people made was happiness. We live for our own happiness and we define the quality of our lives by how happy we are.

If we just live to be happy – and we think that a good life means we’re supposed to be happy all the time – we’ll be derailed by sadness, mistakes, and unpleasantness. We won’t learn how to deal with failure and disappointments. We’ll think we’re entitled to contentment all the time.

Life is hard. Life is painful. Life is messy.

Nobody will be happy all the time. We can’t define the quality of our lives purely by our own personal happiness.

There’s a different way.

If we look at those three narratives – success, happiness, and safety – they’re purely about us. They’re primarily selfish. They’re focused on what we want and need. They don’t extend beyond ourselves.

If we look to the God story – and consider a narrative beyond ourselves – we won’t be so unhinged by sadness, failure, and disappointment. We’ll see things in a bigger picture and think beyond what is only right for us. When we trust that the God story will take care of us more than a selfish narrative, and we extend our purpose farther than ourselves, we might feel a little less vulnerable. We might actually be happier than we would have been if we’d only focused on personal happiness.

Trust the God story.

Your worth and purpose don’t depend on how successful, happy, or safe you are.

Your worth and purpose come from God and from within yourself.

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