Greg Rittler

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers sent me a copy of a book about a month ago that I was really excited about reading. It was Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Here is a review of the book. I would strongly recommend this read.

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I love this book. Donald Miller has taken life and reframed it in ways that I needed at this juncture in my own life and I expect others will be struck the same way. Many books I read are good, but very few actually hit on something that causes me to stop and rethink a lot of life.

Don spends 250 pages helping me to realize that my life is a story and that the story I am creating with what I do every day will become the story that everyone in my life reads: my wife, my kids, friends, neighbors, clients, people I work with, etc. My life is a series of event that make up my story. And here’s what really struck me: I’m a mixed bag when you look at my story.

There are parts of my story that I am embarrassed about and wish were different. There are things that I would change if I could go back and change them. I’d like to say these were things that happened twenty years ago but I couldn’t. Some of them happened last week, last month and this last year. There is pain in my story.

There are other parts of my story that I am proud of. Relationships that I have invested in. People who have loved me and who I have loved. Friends that I have been through some great times together as well as serious challenges together. My marriage is a great part of my story: warts and all. There is joy in my story.

But here was my big takeaway from the book: I get to write the story. Mixed bag that I am, I still get to choose what my story is going to be about. I get to do this in community with Elise, my kids, my family, my friends, co-workers, clients, and neighbors. We get to work together to craft the story of our lives. This has weighed heavy on my lately. I want to write a good story. A story that will matter when I am gone; not a story about a volvo (as Don would joke about in the book).

I’m two weeks away from a birthday that may mark the midpoint of my life. I want to spend that time writing and revising the script for my story. I want it to matter when it is all over. I’ll keep you posted with what I come up with.

In the meantime…go get this book and start writing yourself a better story.

Keep moving forward,

Greg