Years ago, when I thought my job included teaching humility, I used to ask the students in my freshman composition classes to write an essay describing “happiness.” No one ever successfully completed that assignment. I didn’t expect success. It was a set-up that allowed me to expose the hazards of writing in cliché. Of course, while my students stumbled over cliches (a small matter) I routinely missed the deeper issue of why so many of...

In his book, The Healing Power of Stories, Daniel Taylor suggests that the right story can make all the difference. “If your present life story is broken or diseased, it can be made well. Or, if necessary, it can be replaced by a story that has a plot worth living. Our greatest desire, greater even than the desire for happiness, is that our lives mean something. This desire for meaning is the originating impulse of story. Blog this!...