A Million Miles in 1,000 Years

I am in a book club. I know... but I have to have something to fill ALL the spare time I have (said sarcastically). But, I love to read and I find it fascinating to see how multiple people process the same book. This month we read Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It's non-fiction (which I have to be in a mood for) and tells Miller's story of turning his memoir into a movie and, along the way, trying to tell a better story with his life.

I don't know if I loved it, but there were blurbs that definitely reached a deeper place. Let me share one...

"I saw a story on 60 minutes a few months ago about the happiest country in the world. It was Denmark. A study done by a British university ranked the happiest countries, and America was far down the list, but Denmark was on top. Morley Safer explored why. Ruling out financial status, physical health, and even social freedom, he landed on a single characteristic of the Danes that allowed them such contentment....they had low expectations.


I am not making that up. There is something in Denmark's culture that allows them to look at life realistically. They don't expect products to fulfill them or relationships  to end all their problems. In fact, in the final interview of the segment, Safer was sitting across from a Danish man and remarked to him that when Americans find out the happiest place on Earth is Denmark, they are going to want to move there. Without missing  a beat, the Danish man looked at Morley and said , "Well, honestly, the will probably be let down.""


I read this on Sunday evening. I had spent the previous Friday evening on the phone with my mother talking about the pace of my current job and how, with that pace, I don't feel like I am doing anything to a level of quality I am proud of. She gently reminded me that sometimes good enough is just that: good enough. And then, in that way only mothers have, she said, "Misty, perhaps nothing needs to change about the job. Perhaps your expectations need to change." Two days later, as I laid on my couch reading Miller's book, the pieces clicked into place so loudly, it was deafening. For a bright girl, I swear God sometimes has to push extra hard to make me see things. It's about my expectations..... hmmmm?