Kudos

Two-thumbs up! Way to go! Excellent! Well done! Terrific! Doesn't get any better than this! 

Can we ever hear enough praise? I remember hearing a statistic that it takes at least 10 episodes of high-praise to over come a single harsh criticism. And for some of us folks who've dealt with times of low self-esteem, it is more likely to take 10 to the 10th sincere accolades to help us recover from one rough critique.

In the movie I mentioned at the start of this blogquest (Alex & Emma), Emma reads the last page of a book to decide if she is willing to invest her time in reading the entire book. While I disagree with her strategy, I do get her point. I, on the other hand, skip to the beginning. Introductions, prologues, acknowledgments, copyright notices, blah, blah, blah. Those weren't really written first, so why should I read them first? (It's a rhetorical question - no need to try to persuade me. Alex couldn't persuade Emma and he was a "brilliant novelist".) I just want to start the book. Start with what the author really chose to start with. The story.

BUT. In returning to Donald Miller's "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" I read the kudos. In my copy there are three and half pages of  words of praise. Words from some pretty impressive people. My favorite is by Rob Bell (author of Velvet Elvis and Jesus Wants to Save Christians). He says:

If someone tells you they've read this book and they "enjoyed it" or they "liked it" or they think it's a "good book" then maybe they didn't read it - it's well written and funny and interesting and all that, but it's also disturbing. Really, really disturbing. Don is into provocative territory here, wrestling with The Story and the role each our stories play in it...this is very convicting, powerful, unsettling writing. I felt like this book read me more than I read it.

Whew! In the couple of months that passed since I read this book the first time, I don't think I forgot the point. Or missed it entirely. In fact, other notes of praise for this book and Donald Miller use some of the phrases I used ...and they couldn't have been hiding in the recesses of my memory since I skip to the beginning!

Of course, it's possible to come up with 3.5 pages of praise that are inarticulate, inaccurate or just a bunch of bunk. Don did some hard work in this book. It's more like a journal than a novel or self-help book. It feels real. It makes me want to do what he did. Step up. Take chances. Make changes. Be different. Improve my story.

Hear me clearly please, I'm not saying I hate my story as it is. It's me. It's who I am. It's the journey I've been on. However, I don't think I've ever given enough credit to the power God has given me to be a formative force in my own story. Yes, yes, I make choices every day. Those choices can impact myself, my family and others in my circle. But some of what Don is saying in his book is that we are designed to transform. The ways we do that and the routes we take are going to make us "be different at the end" (see chapter 12). We weren't created to arrive at adulthood and then tread water until we die. We are in a constant state of flux. This is why this book presents such a challenge to me personally. I've never been a big fan of changing. (See entry from last January) But do I really just want the status quo? To never change? How boring is that!? Ah-ha. A conflict. The girl who doesn't like change, doesn't want to stay the same. Ay, there's the rub.