Recently we’ve been
considering your memoir’s ending. You want, and need, to create a grand
finale—an ending that will impact your readers. (Click on Do you know how your memoir will end? and Give muscle to your memoir’s ending.)
Your grand finale
gives you an opportunity—a chance to highlight your moist important points,
those messages you want your readers to remember and apply to their own lives.
Most of us here at
SM 101 write our memoirs because of verses like Deuteronomy 4:9 which tells us:
Always remember what
you’ve seen God do for you
and be sure to tell
your children and grandchildren!
(That doesn’t mean
you must mention God in every incident/chapter/vignette, but you, the author,
will pull everything together, recognizing God was always with you and acting
on your behalf even if you didn’t recognize Him at the time.)
One of the easiest,
most powerful ways to craft a grand finale is the following fill-in-the-blank
exercise using Psalm 136, a magnificent song of praise to God—a celebration of God.
You’ll customize
your own version of Psalm 136 starting in verse ten, but first let’s look at verses
one through nine. Praise focuses on God the Creator of all: He is good and His
love endures forever. He made the heavens, spread out the earth upon the
waters, and made the sun, moon, and stars.
I suggest you
include those first nine verses, as-is, in your grand finale, then starting
with verse ten, you can tailor-make the rest of the psalm for your memoir.
Here’s what I mean.
Starting with verse
ten, praise focuses on God who is personally involved with His children—their
families, their daily comings and goings, and the span and purposes of their
lives.
For example, those
next few verses praise God for bringing Israel out of Egypt and recount the additional
ways God showed His love and faithfulness to His people, Israel.
Your customized
version of Psalm 136 could look something like this (and you will fill in the blanks,
listing the ways God guided your family):
Give thanks to the
Lord, for He is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the
God of gods.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the
Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
to Him who alone
does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
who by His
understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
who spread out the
earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
who made the great
lights—
His love endures forever.
the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
the moon and stars
to govern the night;
His love endures forever.
_______________________________
His love endures
forever.
_______________________________
His love endures
forever.
_______________________________
His love endures
forever.
…and so on. (Psalm 136, NIV)
Starting with verse
ten, you might want to go back several generations, especially if, for example,
your family survived the Holocaust, or the infamous Clearances in Scotland, the
potato famine in Ireland, a war, or the Great Depression, or some other
challenge. Or maybe you know (or can research) stories of your family as
pioneers or immigrants.
Add as many lines as
you wish. Probably the more the better!
Your grand finale
will likely consist of
more than a
paraphrase of Psalm 136,
but including it can
help your kids, grandkids,
and other family
members
recognize they are
part of God’s family,
part of something
much bigger than themselves and their generation.
Make your grand
finale a celebration of God!
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