I host a group of local writers who meet each month to support each other. We write in a range of genres – children’s stories, family support, poetry, song writing, memoir, and devotional material. Recently we discussed stepping stones towards the goal of our current project. Of course these were different for each person but we identified a common pattern of :-

It seems that whatever we are writing there is a common journey and a shared resolution.

I am having a reading week. In the opening chapters of Into the Woods by John Yorke the author identifies a three act structure that underpins any story whether film, TV or book. His initial model moves from a character’s flaws and needs, to desire and antagonism, to crisis, and resolution. This seems similar to the common theme our group identified. I reflected that this is indeed the fundamental story of the world – conflict, crisis, healing and redemption. We can see this at the grand scale of creation, human sin and conflict, Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, and our healing and redemption, or the microscale of our flaws and conflicts, the crises that form the pivot points of our story, and the reconciliation that is needed to resolve the conflict between our wants and needs. A character in a story can follow the path of recognition, reconciliation, and resolution, or they can turn away, determined to stick to their desires, disregarding their inner need, and their inevitable doom. There is much on this in Into the Woods.

I love the verse in The Elixir by George Herbert:

A man that looks on glass,

         On it may stay his eye;

Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,

         And then the heav’n espy.

As I explore the stories of my ancestors I am finding that each had a crisis – a serious injury, the death of a parent, or ejection from a familiar way of life that forced them to take a new direction. In my own life I recognise pivot points in balancing family and career, and more recently in dealing with health issues for myself and my husband.

We need a wise guide to lead us across the stepping stones of life so that we stay on track and do not get swept away by rising waters. Those who believe in the arc of the Bible find that we have a trustworthy guide, a shepherd who leads us with his staff.

This post was written in response to the Five Minute Friday prompt PIVOT