Are You a Protagonist or Hero?
I’ve tended to use the term protagonist and hero interchangeably until I read the book The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. Maass says, “A protagonist is the subject of a story. A hero is a human being with extraordinary qualities. A protagonist can be a hero, certainly, but isn’t always. Quite often in manuscripts, the protagonists are ordinary people. They may face extraordinary circumstances in the course of the story but when we first meet them they, in effect, could be you or me.” (Pg 9.)
Pop quiz:
Name one Olympic champion from the 1996 Summer Olympics?
Name an Oscar Award winner from 2021?
Name a Nobel Peace Prize winner of any of the last five years?
Stumped? Don’t worry. Without the internet’s aid, I couldn’t name a single one. However, if asked to name the elementary teacher who had the biggest impact on my writing life, I’d have an immediate response: Mrs. Trout, my fifth-grade teacher.
Now think about that friend who, if they called and wanted to hang out, you’d cancel your plans for the day. Someone whose company you immensely enjoy. That person would typically be someone you admire, who is exceptional in their own way, at least to you. In some way, they inspire you.
What is it that they do that strikes a chord in your heart? Is it the way they make you feel seen or heard? Is it their authenticity? Their remembrance of what’s going on in your life? Their kindness, wisdom, or their ability to laugh and enjoy themselves?
If it hadn’t been for my friend Lynn, my relationship with Jesus could have been a slow walk. When my husband and I started coming to church, Lynn took a special interest in us. She not only made us feel seen and heard, but she was patient in answering our questions about Jesus, Christianity, and the Bible. She answered honestly and with truth, and she changed our hearts and lives. I’m grateful to God for her friendship. My husband and I co-led our first Bible study together with Lynn, and she encouraged me to pour into other women. In fact, I ended up introducing Lynn to one of those ladies as her spiritual grandma (even though Lynn’s not old, nor a physical grandma) because I considered Lynn my spiritual mother.
While athletic medalists, famous people, or intellectual academics breaking ground in their fields have accomplished amazing feats, they’re not typically people who will change the course of our lives. More likely, it’s the youth leader who invested in you, the friend who wanted to spend time with you, the teacher who called out greatness in you. It’s the ordinary Janes and Joes who are not so ordinary to you because they left a mark on your life.
We, too, are not-so-ordinary Janes and Joes. God didn’t make us protagonists. He made us heroes. God takes ordinary people and calls them forth to be heroes. David was a shepherd boy who became king. Gideon said, “My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” (Judges 6:15) But the angel of the Lord called Gideon, “mighty hero.” God had his own son, the savior of the world, born in a manger and raised as a carpenter.
We may see ourselves as ordinary protagonists in our story, but God sees us as mighty heroes because He understands the power of conversations. I’m amazed by Jesus’s miracles, feeding five thousand, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, letting the lame walk, etc. But it’s the one-on-one personal conversations that Jesus had with individuals that touch my heart the most, like Jesus making the disciples take a detour and waiting at the well for the Samaritan woman to draw water during the heat of the day so he could talk to her. The time Jesus was rushed off to heal a man’s daughter, but paused to ask, “Who touched me?” and spoke to the woman who touched the hem of his cloak and was cured of her bleeding disease. After being raised from the dead, Jesus sat on the shore and ate with Peter, even though Peter had denied Jesus three times and didn’t stick around for His persecution.
Who has God put on your heart to have a conversation with? Who is He hinting you should invest in, pour into, draw greatness out of, and make feel seen and heard? You can start with a conversation. Who can you be a hero to today?