A Novel Idea About God by Stephanie Holmberg

I have many worlds living in old notebooks, forgotten in the yellowing pages of school notepads and sketchbooks. Stories I created that are now piled away in storage, never to be touched upon again.

There are worlds in those folios where continents are filled with vast deserts, lush forests, majestic mountains, endless grasslands, and rivers that rush into tumultuous seas. There are cities made of stone and wood nestled within valleys, some are now ruins, others still serve the living.

Monsters roam country sides and heroes traverse roads both paved and beaten. All lost now between homework assignments of math theorems and historical dates.

How many people lived in those worlds? Did they exist merely in the realm of my imagination, or did by imagining them were they given life?

Did they live past my eventual discarding or did their lives just cease to be because I no longer held interest in them?

Such thoughts come to me when I read a truly good novel and am transported into the world the characters live in. Standing beside the hero in their journey of hardship and victory. You become invested.

It’s the same with the characters in the roleplaying games my husband, Tyler, and I toss together. There are some characters we hold with such regard that we perish the idea of changing anything about them. We tend to reuse them over and over again in each game to keep the character living onward past the eventual death of the story they were part of.

Sometimes, those thoughts make me think.

What if we are all characters and stories to God? What if we are within the pages of His library of books and games?

Were the dinosaurs a rough draft that was eventually discarded? Was the ancient world, with its
fantastical gods and monsters, His fantasy novels? Is God reading our stories, looking into our lives, and standing right beside us like we do when we get involved in a good tale?

I’m not asserting that I have any insight into God’s mind. But the idea that we are all stories and characters that God loves and revisits warms me.

Our stories span all genres after all … comedy, drama, romance, satire, and tragedy.

Heroes fight against tyranny and evil. Scientists plumb the mysteries of the universe. The boy falls in love with the girl who dies too young.

But mostly it's just us average people who live our lives while seeking our purpose, with no end to the diversity of our thoughts and feelings.

I like the idea that God is there with us, the literary characters written by His own hand. Celebrating our joys and victories, encouraging us to keep trying when we falter, and crying with us in our sorrows. When we hurt, He feels our pain, when we feel awkward or uncomfortable, He’s right there with us.

Like a good author, He brings meaning to birth, death, love and war … and sees each story to its inevitable end.

Stephanie Holmberg

Comments

  1. brittney.hallenbeckMarch 14, 2016 at 8:33 AM

    Beautiful, Steph. An idea I've never thought of!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 16, 2016 at 7:46 AM

    This is a talent I never knew about you. Different way of thinking. Hopefully we will hear more from you. Love You!

    ReplyDelete

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