Making an Unbearable Story Beautiful by Parker Pritchett

Making an Unbearable Story Beautiful

by Parker Pritchett

“I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert”

(Isaiah 43:19b, KJV).

Not all stories have happy endings.

As Christian writers, we wrestle with that harrowing fact. We take pen to paper, eager to tell a story that honors God through truthfulness—yet the truth is that too often, darkness prevails. This curse can make happy endings feel artificial in our fiction.

As I grapple with this paradox, I’m reminded of Shakespeare’s play King Lear. The brutal tale of betrayal, corruption, violence, insanity, and lamentation presents the tragedy of the human condition on full display.

But throughout the story, Shakespeare plants seeds of redemptive love in three characters. Despite their virtue, one dies and the other two watch the ones they love die. Much like in real life, the happy ending seems to die too.

Along the journey, however, these characters make an unbearable story beautiful. They plant seeds of God’s selfless, unconditional love that sprout like flowers in a desolate wilderness. These characters resemble Jesus Christ, who came into our broken, bitter world and took on our suffering to show us divine love—only to be crucified by us in return.

As his death approached, Jesus said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Seeds of God’s love have to “die” in some way to give redeeming love its power. The same must be true in the worlds we write about just like it is in the world God made.

In King Lear, there are no resurrections. But Christ’s resurrection gives us hope that one day, we will have our real-world happy ending. Until then, as we write stories that battle with darkness, we can weave into them the same redeeming love Christ gives us. Like Shakespeare in Lear, we can write “ways” in our fictional wildernesses and “rivers” in our imaginary deserts—just like the Lord does for us (Isaiah 43:19). When we write stories like God leads us in real life, we help our characters and readers find beauty in what may otherwise be an unbearable world.

Lord, thank you for stories. May we use this gift of storytelling to shine your light into the darkness around us, and may we do this in Jesus’ name until he brings the Happily Ever After. Amen.

Parker Pritchett is a writer from western Kentucky that recently graduated with his bachelor’s degree in professional writing. His favorite things to do (besides writing) include spending time with family and friends, enjoying the art of cooking, and going on adventures. His favorite authors include J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Agatha Christie.

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