Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Tuesday Tidbit: As a memoirist, you need eyes to see and ears to hear


As you write your memoir, think about Howard Thurman's words:

 

Angels hide in every nook and cranny, magi masquerade as everyday people, and shepherds wear garments of day laborers. The whole earth is brimming with glory for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.” (The Work of Christmas: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Howard Thurman, by Bruce G. Epperly)

 

When have key people in your life

seemed to be angels sent by God?

 

What regular old everyday people

might have been magi-like characters in your life?

 

Who were the shepherds God brought alongside

to guide and protect you?

 

You see, God reveals Himself to us in many ways—and the job of a memoirist is to have eyes to see and ears to hear.

 

“Christ is revealed to us by both shepherds and kings,” writes the Reverend Deacon Geoffrey Smith, “by people of all stripes and walks of life. . . .

 

“We find him not only with those around our dinner table, or with those whom we sit next to at church, but also in the invisible ones who mow our lawns, who shovel our snow, who bag our groceries. . . .

 

“Regardless of whether they’re rich or poor, whether they look like us and talk like us, whether they’re Democrat or Republican, God gives us the chance to see Christ in everyone we meet.

 

And so, as you write your memoir, consider again those questions:

 

  • When have key people in your life seemed to be angels sent by God?
  • What regular old everyday people might have been magi-like characters in your life?
  • Who were the shepherds God brought alongside to guide and protect you?

 

Write your stories!

 

There you have it: Your Tuesday Tidbit




 

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