The Story of With

The Story of With

Arnold, Allen. The Story of With. Allen Arnold, 2016. 

While not a literary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, the Story of With is a thought provoking and unique examination of the intersection of faith and art. It is both a non-fiction and an allegory, with the writer explaining the importance of a chapter after the story has progressed. The allegory follows a young woman named Mia, who dreams of becoming a great chef, but is on the brink of giving up when she encounters a mysterious figure who tells her that she can find her lost father, if she is willing to enter the magical world of Story and find a mysterious blue door. 

Each challenge that Mia has to face to find her father, as well as her own heart, is a picture of what we all must face if we are going to live our lives with open hearts and creativity. The good things like inspiration and fellowship, and the hard things like rejection and failure. I saw myself in many of the situations that Mia was in, and I found good insight in the non-fictional sections of each chapter.

The biggest lesson that I took away from this book was actually in the first part of Mia’s journey, where she opened an elevator door to find herself in the middle of an ocean. The lesson she had to learn was on expectancy, that like the surfer, we do not know when the waves will take us for a ride, but we must sit and wait for what the ocean brings. I can see my own beginning very much like this moment for Mia, and like Mia, the challenge for me is to let go of my expectations, or of forcing the ocean to move, and instead sit in a patient expectancy for what God will do.