A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (What I Learned While Editing My Life) by Donald Miller///Commentary by G. White

After reading Donald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (wow, that’s hard to type all those l’s and i’s and m’s), I sat up on my couch and thought, dang, my life is boring. I kinda think that’s what Don wanted me to think. The premise of his book: live a better story.

After being approached by filmmakers, Don had to rewrite his life into a coherent, entertaining narrative for the common movie audience. He realized that his life was boring. He realized that his life was just a series of slightly related, yet somewhat distinct vignettes of writing, speaking, and smoking pipes.

In the Author’s Note, Miller questions us about film content. If we went to a movie about a guy who wanted to get a Volvo, and in the end he got a Volvo, we wouldn’t walk out of the theatre mystified or satisfied, we would wonder why anyone ever wanted to make that movie. Miller’s point: that’s your life. Your life is about silly things like getting Ipods and Volvos and about making the basketball team and getting that new job, but once we obtain those things, the story ends.

Miller says that most of our stories wouldn’t make good movies or even novels. We need to live better stories.

After thinking about this, I examined my life. I’m a junior in college with no idea what I want to do. To entertain myself I read books, watch movies and drink margaritas with my fiancé. Don talks about how his story got interesting, from kayaking in Oregon to biking across America to climbing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. And I sat there and thought, well, that’s easy for you Don because you’re probably bathed in cash from your successful books. I have to try and graduate with good grades so that I have a hope of getting a job and supporting my fiancé-soon-to-be-wife. I don’t have time to write a better story for myself. I go to a liberal arts college, where I’m getting a useless degree, I won’t be able to have your illustrious adventures.

But then I stepped back and realized that I’m having those adventures all the time. I’m writing a fairly good story, and soon Hannah and I will be permanently sharing a pen writing on the blank page of the rest of our lives.

Don talked about how a character needs to want something and to overcome conflict in order to get it. That’s a good story. I realized, I don’t know what I want, and I avoid conflict. So my story is pretty boring. But I decided to think of some things I want. I want to support my future spouse well. I want to pay off my debt in five years. I want to go to the Grand Canyon this spring break with my friends. I want to go to Spain with Hannah. I want to move to a big city. I want to go to grad school. I want to serve the poor and needy for the rest of my life. I want to love Hannah forever.

Now that I know what I want, I’ve got to overcome some conflict to get it. Well, Hannah, let’s make it to Spain and back. Josh, Jeff, Jordan, Matt: we’ll get to the Grand Canyon and enjoy every minute of it, even when we’re burying our own feces.

Miller challenged me to write a better story. I’m not sure if anyone will ever want to make my life into a movie, but hopefully we wouldn’t have much editing to do.

The book is challenging, hysterically funny, deep and wonderful. Miller tells the most beautiful, moving stories with his knack for humor, and with mature, yet humble insights.