Are your stories important?

Welcome, Shanda and Joyce, to S M 101!

Do you question whether you should write a memoir for your kids and grandkids?


Do you wonder if your life’s stories are important?


Wonder no more: They are! Believe it!


For starters, Deuteronomy 4:9 is a command, not merely a suggestion.


(When I type those words, I smile because I hear echoes of my mother’s voice when, as a kid, I balked at a chore she gave me: “This is not a suggestion.”)


I like the way the New Living Translation words it:

Be very careful never to forget

what you have seen the Lord do for you.

Do not let these things escape from your mind

as long as you live!

And be sure to pass them on

to your children and grandchildren.

Our responsibility to our offspring comes up again in Deuteronomy 6:6-9:

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly

to these commands that I am giving you today.

Repeat them again and again to your children.

Talk about them when you are at home

and when you are on the road,

when you are going to bed

and when you are getting up.

Tie them to your hands

and wear them on your forehead as reminders.

Write them on the doorposts of your house

and on your gates.” (NLT)

Because of these and other Bible verses, writing your memoir is far more than a hobby. Writing your memoir is an important ministry to your family.


Remember why you are writing. Your memoirs help shape the spiritual lives of the children, grandchildren, and “spiritual children” God has given you, and anyone else you choose. Not everyone has children, but all of us have “spiritual children” who look up to us—more than we realize.


Take a few minutes to think back:


Bring to mind two or three of your life’s difficulties or challenges,


and recall the ways God answered your prayers,


and the people who encourage you through their own words and stories—in person or in writing,


and remember what God taught you about Himself,


and how, through the experience, He strengthened your faith.


Do your kids and grandkids know those stories?


Perhaps you’re like me: I pour out my heart to God in both good times and bad, but too often I keep those God-things private. I suspect my kids and grandkids know only a fraction of what I’ve seen the Lord do for me and for our family.


Because of that, I’ve found this Bible passage an inspiration, a challenge, a motivator:

Remember … that your children were not the ones

who saw and experienced … the Lord,

… his majesty, his mighty hand….

It was not your children

who saw what he did for you

in the desert until you arrived at this place….

Deuteronomy 11:2-7 (NIV)

Today, I encourage you to take those verses personally: It was not your children who saw what God did for you—perhaps in a “desert” or maybe in a less traumatic event—but your kids and grandkids need to hear your stories.

Always remember: You are important to God. Need reassurance? See my post at http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-are-important-to-god.html

And your stories are important. Believe it!

You have stories that only you can share.

Connect your stories with God’s story—

not as a hobby, but as a ministry to your family.

Your memoir could be the finest gift you ever give.

 

Related post: What is memoir?
http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-memoir.html

Related post: You are important to God
http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-are-important-to-god.html


P.S. For the past day or so, Blogger has experienced problems with both photos and comments. Sorry, friends, but I cannot reply to your comments! Blogger promises they are working on the problem.