A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

by Donald Miller

to live inside a body he made and enjoy the story and bond with us through the experience.

Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in.

I have a hope, it’s that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you.

IF THE POINT of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.

a character is what he does

the stories we tell ourselves are very different from the stories we tell the world.

“Beneath the surface of characterization,” he says, “regardless of appearances, who is this person? At the heart of his humanity, what will we find? Is he loving or cruel? Generous or selfish? Strong or weak? Truthful or a liar? Courageous or cowardly? The only way to know the truth is to witness him make choices under pressure, to take one action or another in the pursuit of his

“Your life is a blank page. You write on

But fear isn’t only a guide to keep us safe; it’s also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.

when we live a story, we are telling the people around us what we think is important.”

Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it’s conflict that changes a person.”

when something hard happens to you, you have two choices in how to deal with it. You can either get bitter, or better. I chose to get better. It’s made all the difference.”

getting men to bond was to have them risk their lives together.

When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are. And when you stop expecting material possessions to complete you, you’d be surprised at how much pleasure you get in material possessions. And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you’d be surprised how much you like spending time with

good storyteller doesn’t just tell a better story, though. He invites other people into the story with him, giving them a better story too.