That's it?

   I have been working my way through the Harry Potter series again in preparation for the upcoming movie! The Half Blood Prince! Yeah! While reading book seven I was reminded, that while it is my favorite book content while, the epilogue ruined the entire book for me. I've been reflecting on why.

   In book Seven (the Deathly Hallows) the book ends on a high note, and in my opinion it would have been an excellent place to end the book. But then Rowling decided to tack on an epilogue that fast forwards through nineteen year. And I wanted to know the details of those years, not just a sketch. 

   I've never done well with vague story telling. Its part of the reason I would rather read a novel than a newspaper article. I crave the details, the mundane. In my relationships with others, I like knowing about their day to day lives, not just the large things that happen to them. From those happenings, I truly glean who they are. It's also the reason that I skip right over the trite facts when I am getting to know someone. I want to know what makes their soul tick and burn with desire!

   The lack of detail is also why I have struggled at times with the gospel narrative. Especially when I was younger. By skipping over Jesus' youth, teenage, and young adult years I felt like I had very little to claim as my own and relate to my own story during those periods of development. (Side note: this is why I like Anne Rice's Christ the Lord series so much.)

   We live in a society that too easily passes over deep details in order to get the skim picture of people's lives. May we cease doing so in order to be blessed by the narratives that other's have to share.