You’re the bridge between generations past and generations yet to come

Wednesday we pondered words penned by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner:  Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred stories of the ordinary.

I still marvel at his words: They capture the purpose—the heart—of our memoir vignettes, yours and mine.

The good Rabbi said, “When viewed from a point of high enough vantage, everything is revealed to be in the hands of God.…” (Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary)  

You are part of God’s divine story.

You are the bridge God has placed between your family’s generations past and generations yet to come.

“Write what should not be forgotten.”

Isabel Allende

With that in mind, today I am sharing random quotations and questions to help you remember long-forgotten stories for your memoir.

What memories, personal stories, and lessons come to mind with any or all of these?

“It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change …

but it’s that in between place that we fear.

It’s like being between trapezes.

It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer.

There’s nothing to hold onto.”

Marilyn Ferguson

“Lord, please send someone else to do it!”

Exodus 4:13

“The will of God is

never exactly what you expect it to be.

It may seem to be worse,

but in the end

it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger.”

Elisabeth Elliot

God is already working on Plan B 

even as Plan A lies in shambles around your feet. 

John Claypool

God has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

When you were a child, what frightened you? How did you overcome it? What stories can you write to encourage your children and grandchildren with their own fears?

Jesus said this about himself: “He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted” (Luke 4:18). Think back to a specific person God sent, in His name, to help heal your broken heart. When did God send you to help heal a person's broken heart? Write a vignette.

“The meaning of the stories I wrote down went beyond me. As author Madeleine L’Engle wrote, when artists create, we cocreate, with Spirit and with readers.… Disappointments can’t be avoided; they can only be converted into lessons, gifts, if we allow.… 

“ … People write [me] to say [my] stories have changed their lives, that they’ve found new direction through the words as they seek meaning. They say they’ve found healing, too, inside these stories. I’ve given the stories birth, but I’m not the one who reaches readers. Writers are … the conduit through which God and guidance flow” (Jane Kirkpatrick, Homestead).  

Did you catch that? “Writers are … the conduit through which God and guidance flow.”

You are a writer. By writing your God-and-you stories, you can be the conduit through which God and His guidance flow to your children, grandchildren, and many others.