Matthew 7:28-29
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Ecclesiastes 12:10-11
The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.
A good story whisks a person away and fixes them firmly where they are. It must captivate and inspire beyond mere circumstance and yet plant one assuredly back into circumstances.
If a story only whisks you away, it is powerless for the day and leads to resentment of the world that is and envy of a world that does not exist. If it only plants you firmly where you are, but does not cast a vision beyond it, the heart won't aspire or work hard today to achieve a better country.
A good story should leave one firmly fixed and light as a feather, grounded in reality and motivated by possibility, captivated by principles and comforted by promises.
“No one doubts that an ordinary man can get on with this world: but we demand not strength enough to get on with it, but strength enough to get it on. Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?" -- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
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