I have been a writer for many years but recently I have been writing stories for children. There is a big difference with writing these types of stories as opposed to articles or short stories. Parents like to see lessons within a story for their children.
Well, at first I did not believe that. I thought if the story was cute enough that the lessons were unimportant. So I began writing. My thought was only to write a cute story about a little fairy girl who gets an unexpected adventure.
I created the main character and began to write. Within the first two paragraphs, as often happens with me, I was no longer writing the story but the character was. She took over and led me where she wanted to go. She introduced me to other characters and helped me get to know them.
Still I did not believe my story needed a lesson. I did not believe one was appearing on the paper either. Even after several edits of the final copy of the first draft, I did not see them.
Last night I asked a friend of mine to read the story and give me some feedback. She did and it was all very helpful. What she also did though was tell me that she loved all the lessons within the story. I was shocked. Lessons? I didn't include lessons. So I asked her what she saw. And sure enough, there they were plain as the nose on my face. I was just so close to the story that I couldn't see them. All I could see was the little adventure and the cute little characters whom I now know and love. But there they were. The lessons had wound themselves into the story.
Tonight I was watching an older movie with my husband. As we neared the end, the main character taught his superior how to be a leader. I sort of saw it coming but still somehow it was a little unexpected and it made me think.
I realized that sometimes life is kind of like these stories. That sometimes our lessons wind themselves into our story, but many times we are too close to see them.
When we are in a situation, like an argument or a life crisis, we are too into the moment to see the lessons. We are too close to the people and to emotional to see the lesson. It's just like my story. I was so close and emotionally involved with Bee-bee, my main character, that I didn't see the lessons she was learning because to me it was just different situations.
Recently I have been witness to a real life event that mirrors this. Fortunately I was a third party and could see what was happening to and with the other people involved. As the drama unfolded you could see that these people were emotionally attached to their own thoughts, opinions, and actions and could not see the forest for the trees. My advice was that once things cooled down they could later go back and look over what had been said and done. By doing this after the situation is over they may be able to see the lessons that were winding their way into this story.
This is something we can all do with any situation. Lessons come in all shapes and sizes and at the most mysterious times. Most times we are incapable of seeing them while they are happening but if we go back later and look things over sometimes we can find them.
I challenge you to re-read your life's stories after you have let them play out and see where your lessons appear. You may be surprised.
