Your stories are all around you, just waiting for you to put them in writing.
Look at your cell
phone contact list, your address book, your Facebook friends, your email inbox,
your Twitter friends—what stories can you write about some of those people?
What stories can you
write about the fun you had with them? About the adventures? What did you learn
alongside them about failure, hard work, success, romance, illness, teamwork?
What skills did
those people teach you?
What lessons did they
teach you?
Who taught you about
honesty, integrity, perseverance, kindness, compassion, generosity, faith in
God? How, specifically, did those individuals shape you and encourage you to be
the person you are today?
Write your stories! But
not just stories. God-and-you stories.
Stories are
everywhere. Look around your office or your house. What have you tucked into a
special drawer or a safe deposit box?
If a tornado siren
sounded, or if a smoke alarm went off, what would you grab and take to a safe
place?
If those items could
talk, what stories would they tell?
I think about that
question a lot.
Someday I want to
write stories based on my old blue American Tourister carry-on bag (a gift from
Schiefelbeins before Dave and I left for Africa; thanks, Rick and Marilyn!). It
has traveled with me for 24 years and counting, across three continents: from
this planet’s most primitive places to the world’s most sophisticated
cities—and what stories it could tell! Not just stories, but God-and-me
stories.
What stories would
my husband’s grandmother’s aluminum colander tell? And her ironing board? I
don’t know how many years Grandma Jennings used them, but I’ve used them for 50
years! Five generations of our family (so far) have used those items. Imagine
what stories they could tell—stories of God’s faithfulness to our family,
generation after generation.
Why have you thrown
out some possessions but kept others for many years?
Why could you never
throw them out or give them away? Because they represent something important to
you. What is that something?
Look around and ask
yourself:
“If this dining room
table could talk, what stories would it tell?”
“If my old Bible
could talk, what stories would it tell?”
“If these boots
could talk, what stories would they tell?”
What about a photo? A
book? Washing machine? Piece of art? Jewelry? Woodworking tools? Coffee mug? Mechanical
tools? Art supplies? A vase? A favorite old devotional book?
Many items could
tell stories—stories significant to you and your family.
Set aside time to think
about a key item. Ponder its importance: while you drive to work or mow the lawn
or brush your teeth or walk the dog or drive the grandkids to baseball practice.
Look at old photos
connected with the item—photos of places and people.
What questions do
you need to ask?
What questions do
you need to ask yourself?
Peel back layers. Wait
for answers. Listen for them.
When answers
surface, write your stories—not just stories. Write God-and-you stories.
Remember, while
you’ve been using and enjoying those items, God has always been with you,
working in you, working on your behalf.
Your stories are all
around you. You don’t need to experience news-making miracles to witness God at
work. He is in your everyday comings and goings.
Oswald Chambers says
it this way:
“We look for visions
from heaven
and for
earth-shaking events
to see God’s power.
Yet we never realize
that
all the time God is
at work
in our everyday
events….”
Write your stories!
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