Every person we meet has what it takes to be a character in a novel.
Every person we meet has a propensity to do certain things, and because of this, his/her intellect judges those things as good for them or not good for them, depending upon what their goal is.
Every person, including ourselves, makes choices, knowing what we should do, or should not do; then we play out our choice through action that in some way, always involves another person.
Oh yes, in real life, each of us has a story, too! And that story–our own story–follows us to the end of our days on Earth, taking us to eternal life, or eternal damnation, depending upon the choices we make and the actions we take.
The main characters in novels must change, one way or the other, or there is no novel. Each of us on Earth has the same capability of change in order to achieve our highest end. But not every novel has a happy ending. Not every protagonist wins, same as in human life. However, a novel is based on an author’s chosen standard with which the characters are charged. The world’s greatest novels point to the higher standard, though the characters may never achieve it.
It is the same for us. As human beings, we are charged with certain standards. We are not meant to hate, but to love. We are not meant to lie, but to speak the truth. We are not meant to steal, but to share what we have. We are not meant to kill–not an innocent child in the womb, an enemy, or a neighbor. We know within ourselves what is right and just, but sometimes we do the opposite. Why? Because we choose wrongly when we forget who we are. This is so obvious today.
In the words of one great novelist: If we Americans are to survive it will have to be because we choose and elect and defend to be first of all Americans; to present to the world one homogeneous and unbroken front, whether of white Americans or black ones or purple or blue or green… If we in America have reached that point in our desperate culture when we must murder children, no matter for what reason or what color, we don’t deserve to survive, and probably won’t.– William Faulkner
In a novel, the actions of evil often shine out the good. Struggle or suffering by the protagonist often shows him or her a way to the good because he chooses to make his way through the struggle. Struggle is the way of all life; all of life struggles to be born, and then struggles to stay alive. And all of life yearns for love. We can certainly see this in animals, in our pets that want to be stroked or held. It is obvious that every human life needs love because we all aspire to it.
Each of our life stories has been given to us by the loving God who made us, by the Creator who designed us as innocent children, designed us in His likeness with free will, the ability to imagine, the ability to remember and act on those memories, the capability of loving and accepting love from others, and most of all, the capability of showing mercy, even to those who have hurt us.
A great novelist puts purpose into the words he/she writes. Characters have purpose, settings have purpose, everyday actions and words have purpose. Nothing is insignificant or unimportant to the ultimate novelist. Therefore, I see God as the most perfect and greatest novelist, giving each of His characters everything they need to achieve their end in this great scheme of life, but also the freedom to choose or not to choose HIM. We are all writing the novel of our lives, the only novel for which we alone will be responsible. If presently, it seems to be a novel we are not proud of, we still have time to change it into one that will be pleasing to ourselves, and to God.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. –Psalm 139: 13-18
Translating a World on the Edge 