My sister is a writer – a beautiful screenwriter – a storyteller. We were talking about how nice it was to see credits on a new Aussie movie for “Written by….” which doesn’t often occur. In this conversation she told me there’s a saying in the film industry that goes like this:

The director gets the money, the actor gets the fame, and the writer gets the blame.

She spoke of the film writer as the unsung hero, and when I heard this it reminded me of God – the greatest storyteller of all and the one most often blamed if things don’t come across as we like them on the big screen of one’s life – and in our first world culture, especially if it doesn’t bring in the dollars!.

God is the greatest scriptwriter, and Jesus is the Word of God. Everything that has been created, has been created through, by, for, and in Christ. God’s story is magnificent. It’s the story of love, the greatest love story that ever was and it continues for all eternity. Frank Viola’s book From Eternity to Here gives a beautiful insight into this love story of Jesus Christ and His beloved bride.

Of course, God’s story is the overarching story of all our stories since He is our creator. We are each a character with our own story within the bigger script, a little like in a Woody Allen movie. We are the actors, per se.

And don’t some of us just love fame and glory? Some of us get the glory whether we want it or not but mostly we are all disillusioned into believing we are the most important part of the picture. We can’t help ourselves. It’s our human nature. Me, myself and I. You, yourself and you!

When things are going as we hoped or expected they would, we are happy and grateful. When things happen we don’t understand and find difficult to accept what do we do? “God? Why didn’t you do this, why did you do that? I don’t understand You!’ and then our faith wavers. We simply don’t like the script.

Did we expect the story to be predictable? Have we been too focussed on the actors and not the overall story? Didn’t we see the twist coming?

Apparently, a well written script for film, sees the chief characters go through change. Apparently, they start the story with a certain outlook or perspective and through the twists, tragedies, let-downs, all the highs and lows written into the script, they wind up at the end having changed their outlook and perspective….they themselves, are in fact changed. Sound familiar?

When I reflect on my life, its ups and downs, the unforseen circumstances, the tragedies, losses and twists that turned me on my feet, the emotion, drama, the rom/com, the horror and suspense; I see God is a very good writer. I think He is especially excellent because He has already told the audience how our story will end while yet at the same time, keeps us all in suspense so we are never really knowing what will happen next!

Now, that’s great writing.