Stories and my Thesis

As some of you may have grasped by the title of my blog, stories are a pretty big part of my life.  I have a tendency to think of life in story form.  While this is helpful as an English major, I've come to discover that not everyone views life in this way.  However, the importance of stories in my life, and others, has influenced the way in which I read literature.  So I decided to write my thesis on the power of stories.
I decided that I'd let you guys read part of it.  Give me some feedback, if you want. Thanks for reading!

I have always loved to read. Ever since my mom taught me how, I have loved every second of it. I have loved the adventure, the new places, the magic, the romance, the excitement. I have loved what stories taught me about people, what they have taught me about life, love, and the pursuit of something so much bigger than myself. I have always loved to read.
     Something happened when I was in sixth grade that changed reading for me. I read The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. This book changed my life. This story is about a princess who gets overtaken by her lady-in-waiting whilst they are on their way to meet her new groom. The princess then goes on a journey of self-discovery and falling in love with a man, who (spoiler alert) ends up being the prince anyway. In the end, everything is set right and the prince and princess (the real one) get married and live happily ever after. While this story sounds just like any other fairy tale, it did not teach me an ordinary fairy tale-type lesson. This princess believed very strongly in the power of language and stories. She believed that we, as people, can communicate so much better though stories. She believed that all of the elements, even the animals, all communicate through stories somehow. These stories were powerful for her. All of the sudden, I knew why I loved to read. It was not because fantastical stories whisked me away from my real life. It was not because I loved stories about true love and magic. I loved to read because there was power in the stories that I was reading. Suddenly, reading (and even writing) took on a whole new meaning. I began to read with the intention of learning something, rather than just reading for fun, and my eyes were opened to a whole new world of possibilities.
Not everybody agrees that stories influence readers in a positive way. Many people find reading stories extremely boring or inconsequential to their lives. Others, however, have seen stories shape every area of their lives.
     This eventually carried on into other aspects of my life, particularly my spiritual life. Lewis, Tolkien, and Chesterton believe so very strongly that Christian must open their eyes to the unimaginable. Christians need to be able to feel wonder and indulge in delight. The psalmist certainly indulged in his delight in the Lord. The poet of Song of Solomon certainly delighted in his wife. Delight is something that God encourages in us. Wonder and imagination and delight are an integral part of being a Christian. God is a mystery and therefore we must use our imaginations to wonder about what he must be like, delighting in the fact that we always have something new to learn and in the fact that he loves us getting to know him better. He chose to teach us about himself through a story, The Bible. As Christians, we cannot ignore this fact. Stories are meant to shape us. We talk about history being His-story, because all of history has his name written on it. Maybe we need to start looking at all stories that way. Maybe we need to start noticing how Christ has written himself over every part of Creation. 

      Why are stories important? Why do they matter? That's why. They matter because they're how Jehovah chose to communicate with us. They matter because they are how we communicate with each other. Fictional stories teach us about wonder and imagination. Fictional stories teach us about delight. A friend recently asked me why stories should matter to adults who have three children under the age of five and are working full time jobs. My answer? Because stories remind us that there is hope in this world. Stories remind us that there could always be something better. Stories take us away and help us to appreciate what we have in front of us. Stories are powerful.