Learning to Live

I just finished watching "Stranger Than Fiction", which If you haven't seen it then I recomend you do. The main character in the movie learns that he is actually a character of a book that the author is trying to kill off for her story. At first this fear paralyzes him. He isn't sure what to do with it, but he talks to a professor of literature and this guy tells him something that really stuck out to me. The main character asks the professor what he should do now that he knows he going to die and the professor says something to to this effect: " Well then go live the life you've always dreamed." The character does exactely that. He starts doing the things he's always wanted to do. No matter how silly or awkward he feels because they are out of his norm. This story drew a huge parallel for me in my life. I have my comfort zones. I have those things I always do and I'm ok with monotony. Then one day, in walked someone into my life that said "There is a bigger story, a bigger life then the one you live." He challenged me to live outside of my norm and to live each day like its my last. He wants me to get out of my comfort zone and do things that may seem awkward because they are out of my norm. Someone once gave an excellent analogy for this and it has stuck with me ever since. We are like rubber bands. Without someone there to stretch you, you will stay in the same shape; never changing. I shouldn't be ok with that "same shape". God wants to use me, but I have to be willing. I have to surrender my "rubber band" over to Him so He can stretch me into the person He desires me to be. I need to learn to live for him, because there IS a bigger story. I AM a character in a story. Except the difference is that God doesn't want to kill me off. He wants to use me for His glory. My part of the story is to live, for a cause, for a reason, for Him.

So I'm learning to live...