You ever just sit and listen to people tell stories? Yeah, me too. I love a good story; it's why we get hooked on endless seasons of Netflix: the story. Get me a cup of coffee and I'm set. Life is a huge compilation of stories: your story, my story, Meredith Grey's story. It's our stories that fill the pages of our lives. And here's the really great thing about them: each one is unique to its own individual characters. The author writes it specifically with the character at heart.

So let's agree on this one idea first; our lives are a story. Agree? Agree. But here's the kicker: no two stories are alike. And all too often we try to make it that way, and that my friends, is where a serious problem occurs.

You see within a story there's an author, a narrator, and whole cast of characters. You probably learned all of this in the 4th grade and are thinking, "Yeah, yeah, I got it, so what's the big deal?"

Okay, okay I hear ya, but trek with me for a second. The author writes the story, obviously. We all know that. He is the creator of the whole thing. Purposefully, He positions the characters within the story. He decides the people they will encounter and ultimately the decisions they will make. He puts obstacles in their way and strife and struggle because let's face it, it would be absolutely ridiculous to believe that any of us would be interested in a story with no conflict. Even Disney knows that, and they are supposed to be the happiest people on Earth.

Remember earlier, we agreed that our lives are a story. So if that is indeed true then all of these principles have to hold true for us and our author. We are the characters within God's story and even furthermore within our story that He has written for us. He has written our stories with us in mind-- all the bumps and bruises, victories and defeats, the beginning and the ending. He is the author and perfecter of our faith, and therefore, the author and perfecter of our stories! Just think about it. The Creator of the universe has carefully and purposefully written a story just for you! Like, wow!!!

So now that we have that settled, back to this idea of a story. So within this story, we have a narrator, and if you've taken enough English credits, you know that the author and the narrator are two totally different people. The author writes the story, and the narrator tells the story. And that's where you come in again; you are the narrator, the story teller, of your own story.

But since you are both the main character and the narrator, your bias is going to paint your story to be the very best ever told. And that is perfectly fine, but the problem lies within the most popular publishing company of our day-- a little thing called social media.

You see, the only parts of the story that make it to the big screen are the super shiny, glittery, envy me parts; the highlight reel if you will. And if you've ever watched a football game, you know there's so much more to the story than those few moments of brilliance. And we look at this highlight reel: elaborate dates, dream-job promotions, engagements, weddings, babies-- picture perfect stories. And we start to think to ourselves, "Man, they've got it all figured out. I wish my life looked like that." And that is so very wrong!

Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing the high points of your story. You should! But we have to realize that that one glittery post doesn't make their story perfect, and we have to let go of that imagination that our story should be like their story.

Cinderella could not live out Katniss Everdeen's story nor could Moses live out Noah's. It just doesn't work like that. Each story is a beautiful mess, but it's your perfectly imperfect story, and that's what makes it special.

You have to learn to love YOUR story, not her story or his story. Because the author and perfecter of your faith wrote it just for you, and that has to make it pretty perfect.