Enjoying the Everyday---and how books can ruin that

Photo Credit to Tara Tarr

This week, I am pleased to introduce you to one of my friends, Tara. She came to me with this post idea, and the suggestion that she be a guest writer for it! I was more than happy to comply.

I really enjoyed reading it, and I hope you do too. Leave a comment and let Tara know what you think! 😉

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“My town is so boring.”

“I live in the middle of nowhere!”

“Man, I wish I lived in the Harry Potter books.”

Have you ever heard people say things like this? I sure have, and it seems to be a common sentiment among many of today’s readers. Because many great–or at least, popular–stories are set in England or Europe in general, it’s not surprising that many readers come away with the feeling that they will only find an adventure if they are not in America. This mindset of “where I live, everything is boring” is not only untrue, but, I would argue, insulting to God.

First of all: nothing is boring! Yep, nothing. Every time you step outside you’re stepping into the largest moving set piece of all, designed by the master Designer, specifically intended for us. And what do we say? “Ugh. I hate hot weather. Why can’t it rain today?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as guilty of this as everyone else, and the heat (for example) is not my cup of tea. But, that definitely doesn’t excuse us. 

Our first mistake which makes us perceive the world as boring is seeing it as normal. We like to forget that we live on a huge rock in space that’s spinning around exceedingly quickly and orbiting a giant flaming ball of…gas? And we don’t fly off of it. That’s pretty crazy. N. D. Wilson, one of my favorite Christian authors who has greatly shaped many of my views, writes about this in his book Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl. One of the points he makes is that humans are very good at missing things. We miss the complexity of the everyday; we close our eyes to the marvel of God’s creation; we ignore incredible things constantly, and so our life becomes boring and we turn to escapism, reading magical stories of far away. There’s nothing at all wrong with enjoying a good story, and even wishing from time to time that you could have experienced it. But, that becomes unhealthy when our desire for interesting experiences turns into a dislike or hatred of where or even when we live.

So, we miss things about life. So what, you ask? Why does that matter? Why is it such a big deal that we often think it’s better to have an adventure “somewhere else” instead of here, because here is so boring and normal? Well, as C. S. Lewis wisely wrote in The Horse and His Boy, “No one is told any story but their own.” Obviously, we can’t know what anyone else is thinking and feeling at any given time. But more than that, Lewis is also making the subtle point that no amount of wishing will give you another story. You were born to live in this time, in this era, and you live where you live. God did it for a reason, and his reason is good.

So what is amazing about where you live, and how can you begin to notice? Take where I live, for example: the South. Every year, I try to catch the exact moment that spring arrives, but I always fail. One day everything is brown and gray, and the next day bright green is shining all around. Every year there are more and more redbud trees, and this year especially, there are so many little flowers in the grass that entire fields are covered in bright purple and green. (Don’t ask me what kind of flowers they are…no amount of googling has brought me the answer! They aren’t clover, that much I know.) The answer to this question of how can we begin to notice is simple: stop to appreciate it! Let yourself marvel at the hilarity of the fat, zipping bumblebees, at the beauty of a sunrise (imagine, we have that every morning!), at the delicate nibbling of a squirrel who finds a nut. No matter where you live, there will always be something unique about the weather, or the scenery, or the animals. All of it is intricate, and all of it is ours to take dominion over and explore. And, lest you forget: nothing is boring!

To wrap it up, I want to return to the specific aspect of stories. Is it wrong to write, read, or greatly enjoy a story that isn’t set where you live? Absolutely not! Is it wrong to be so bored with where God has placed you in life that you fall prey to escapism and let yourself become consumed by wishing you were elsewhere? Absolutely! If you ever find yourself upset or dissatisfied with your own life and times, I would encourage you to step outside and look around. What is something that you’ve never noticed? Take note of the ants in the sidewalk, the acute blueness of the sky, the threads of a story out there just waiting for you to find them. And in everything you do, remember to thank God for the spectacular things He has given to us.

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She's right, isn't she? Sometimes, books can make us pretty dissatisfied with where we live. I know I'm guilty of this, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. Leave your thoughts in the comments!